


A Hero's Prophecy

by NyxAqua



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Implied Sexual Content, Minor Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:33:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 80,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26905183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NyxAqua/pseuds/NyxAqua
Summary: A prophecy concerning Kara and the fate of the world is revealed over a series of bizarre attacks on National City. Unsure of how to fulfill the prophecy, Kara is visited by the imp, Mxyzptlk, who provides her with clues about the prophecy. The choice she eventually makes is not an easy one but she is convinced it will save the world. Years later, as the world crumbles around her and Cadmus rises to rule the ashes, she realizes she made the wrong choice. Mxy returns with a deal: he’ll help her figure out where she went wrong and take her back in time to change her choice but she must help him with something in return. Kara must find a way to save Earth, herself, and those she loves most as she criss-crosses time and timelines.
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, Some Kara/Mon-El following season 2 lines
Comments: 22
Kudos: 116
Collections: Supercorp Big Bang 2020





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this idea for years but couldn't get out of writer's block. Thanks to this event it is finally down. It's not 100% polished but it's down and I'm back in the game! Thanks to @mssirey and @stennnn06 for sticking through with this idea over three years(!), my wonderful gf for being the biggest support system and beta-ing every chapter, and the wonderful organizers and members of Supercorp Big Bang

The bright sun warmed her body as she leisurely flew through the skies over National City. Kara turned her face toward the radiant light and closed her eyes, basking in the powerful rays that gave her strength. She banked left, looping around the skyscrapers of the city center, and headed for the bay. Although she loved being a hero, it was slow days like today – no robberies, no hostage situations, no rogue aliens causing trouble – that she loved the most. She could keep a watchful eye on her city and listen to the laughter and the happiness of the people she loved. The people of National City and their well-being were almost as empowering to her as the yellow sun. 

She boosted her speed and flew out over the bay, the briny smell of the ocean overwhelming her nostrils and the sound of her sonic boom ringing in her ears. Only when the water had turned a deep blue under her did she turn and hover. From here she could see the entire city nestled between the hills in the near distance and the bay below. 

On these slow days she would fly out over the bay and evaluate her life away from the hustle and bustle of the city but close enough should the DEO need her. This time to herself was an opportunity to reflect, and reflection was a much needed process for her lately. The weight of her own Kryptonian legacy, her duty as a caretaker of this world, and the pull between being Supergirl and Kara Danvers was heavy, even burdensome at times. And today was one of those days that her situation felt unmanageable. She felt like if she could just take a moment to breathe she could put the pieces of her life together in a way that would lessen the pressure bearing down on her. 

A light but cool breeze rustled her golden hair like a hand reaching out to caress and comfort her. She stretched her long and graceful limbs, trying to soothe the ache that coarsed beneath her bulletproof skin. She may not be vulnerable to much here on Earth, physically, but she was not immune to the stress and emotional toll of life. 

She had known for sometime, though it hadn’t always been obvious even to herself, that she wanted to be a reporter. She had flirted with going into a subfield of science during college but she found it hard to hide her true identity as Kara Zor-El, daughter of the most brilliant scientist of Krypton. It would not have surprised anyone on Earth if she had decided to follow this path, though. Her adoptive parents and sister had all chosen careers in one science subfield or another so Kara had continued to be raised to think like a scientist, to analyze everything with a sharp eye, after her arrival to this planet. The problem was that Earth’s science knowledge was hundreds, if not thousands, of years behind that of Krypton and she found herself struggling to explain how she knew things that even her teachers and, later on, her professors could not even imagine. Hindering her knowledge on top of hiding her powers and her true identity was just too much for her to maintain. 

She had taken everyone by surprise when she changed majors and finished her degree in marketing. Then everyone had questioned her decision to become Cat Grant’s personal assistant after graduation, although they remained supportive. No one could have predicted this was the path she would take. With a couple of years of hard work, and thanks to her secret superhero identity, she emerged as one of National City’s rising journalists – something not so surprising to those who knew her passion for helping people. Although at times she felt like she was not using her full potential and all of what her brain was capable of, she found fulfillment in her ability to help others, both alien and human, in her “human” life too. But her boss, Snapper, was not as in awe of her ability and her work and everyday she was put in a position to defend her worth not only as a journalist but sometimes even as a person in his eyes.

Kara and Alex were closer than ever but now working together and sharing a friend circle their lives and choices were starting to clash. Their relationship had not always been a strong one and it had turned especially rocky when Kara had decided to become Supergirl and Alex was forced to reveal herself as a DEO agent. Yet over the last year, as they moved past Kara’s choice and Alex’s deceit, they had become inseparable, unbreakable in so many ways but not without typical sibling conflict. She knew Alex was in her corner and would do anything to keep her safe. It was the definition of what was safe that was plaguing their relationship now. 

And then there was Mon-El. His sudden appearance on Earth had provided Kara with a second chance at the life her mother had intended for her: she once again had the opportunity to protect another and provide guidance like she had set out to do with Kal-El. She soon realized, though, Mon-El was a more difficult student than she was prepared to handle. They had started off rough, their old stereotypes about the other’s culture rearing their ugly heads, and then his shift to unabashedly flirting with her, many times as an excuse to get out of his DEO training and superhero duties, had made things difficult. They were progressing, slowly but surely. He was much more stubborn as a mentee than she would have liked and sometimes she felt like she literally had to drag him to his trainings and then into his own “human” life. She was confident, maybe just stubborn herself, that she could convince him to embrace a superhero identity and help her and Kal protect the world. They just needed to adjust to one another and find their flow. 

With her career as a reporter and as Supergirl, with Alex at her side, and their great group of friends in Winn, James, J’onn, and Maggie, Kara felt that she had the social support she needed if she could balance it all. Winn and James were there in her life both at the DEO and CatCo and because they knew her identity things were a bit easier with them. J’onn was slowly becoming the father figure she so desperately craved after the loss of her own father and then later on the loss of Jeremiah. He seemed to trust her more but never hesitated to let her know he was disappointed when she screwed up. And Maggie stepped into the role of an additional big sister. They had their disagreements and could get into it just as intensely as Kara and Alex had over the course of their relationship, but they always resolved things and were there for one another, both professionally and personally. Keeping Maggie in the dark about being Supergirl put added stress on their friend group but they were so far navigating those rocky waters. 

Of everyone in her corner there was one other person who made Kara the happiest. Someone who the mere thought of her made her face break into a wide smile. Someone who brought so much light into her life and grounded her like none other.

Lena. 

Her heart stuttered at the thought of Lena. It was her and Lena’s relationship that was perhaps the most complicated thing in her life right now. She felt like her and Lena were on the precipice of breaching the friends-to-lovers line and it was somehow amazing and terrifying at the same time. This possibility was straining her world and consuming her every thought. 

_“You’re in love with her,” Alex whispered in her ear at the end of game night. She came up on Kara in the kitchen while she watched Lena and Maggie pack up the many games that were scattered about the living room. Everyone else had already gone. Alex was Maggie’s ride but Lena lately had been coming up with excuses to stay behind and help clean up. At Kara’s blush, she grabbed her younger sister’s arm in shock. “God, you got it bad. Maggie has been telling me something was going on between you two but I didn’t think anything of it until tonight with your heart-eyes and drool.”_

_“I don’t have heart eyes and drool!” Kara groaned, knowing her sister was right. She busied herself with rinsing the glasses and silverware that had accumulated throughout the night, not wanting to look at her sister’s disappointed scowl. After she washed a glass, she stopped in deep thought. Why did she feel embarrassed by her feelings? It seemed everyone else could tell anyway. “I think I do, Alex. I...Rao, this is scary.” She let out a nervous laugh and turned off the sink, the remaining dirty dishes would just have to wait._

_“But it’s a good type of scary, isn’t it?” Alex rhetorically asked, personally aware of the same good scary feeling herself. “It’s a shame she’s a Luthor.”_

_The serious yet mocking tone of Alex’s voice made Kara look up. She watched Alex watch Lena and Maggie and saw the pain of many regrets written on her face. It was a face that had weathered too much unrequited love and heartache._

_Alex threw back the last of bourbon and handed her now empty glass to her sister. “It hurts to fall in love with the wrong ones.”_

_Kara’s eyes were drawn back to Lena and Maggie as the two broke into a fit of laughter, game pieces tumbling from a box that had not been closed properly in their antics. Kara smiled and wondered how it was possible that she could adore the crinkle of Lena’s nose and forehead when she laughed so much. But instead of the usual fuzzy warmth that filled her stomach there was only cold dread as her brain registered Alex’s words._

_"Don’t get too deep. It’ll hurt less if you shut it down now.” Alex handed Kara the last of the dirty dishes from the island not daring to hold eye contact with her sister._

_“But I don’t want to shut it down!”_

_“Kara…”_

_“No! Don’t give me that look. Why can’t Lena and I start something?”_

_“Because she’s a Luthor and you’re a Super. That’s not safe.” Alex’s hiss stung, at her implied accusation of Lena based on her name but also her implication that Kara was stupid for even thinking about pursing this relationship._

_Kara slammed the dishes down too hard into the sink. She knew immediately the bottom plate had at least broken if not all of them. “She’s good, Alex.”_

_“I know. I like Lena. Really I do.” Alex’s face softened but also became patronizing in the same instant. “Her being a part of our friend circle is close enough though. You don’t know what those connected to her could do to you or if she might change because of her family later on. It’s not safe for her to know at all.”_

_“That’s not fair. People can’t always use her family against her.”_

_“But they do, which is not likely to change any time soon. And you’ll never be able to trust her completely with Lex still lingering behind the scenes.”_

_“He’s contained.”_

_“But he still has power. No matter what we or your cousin do, Lex Luthor will always have his hand in the evil in this world. Prison bars don’t change that.”_

_“It’s not fair,” Kara repeated._

_“Hell, J’onn doesn’t even fully trust your cousin. You really think you can convince him and the DEO to bring Lena on board?” Alex yanked her and Maggie’s jackets from the hooks by the door. There was no point in having this conversation further especially with Lena under the same roof._

_When Kara didn’t respond, Alex scoffed and walked away. “Maggie, we need to go.”_

_“But I’m helping Lena clean–” Her excuse came to an abrupt end at the sight of Alex bugging her eyes out at her. She interpreted it that Alex wanted to give Kara and Lena alone time, not realizing the disagreement between the sisters that had been happening in the kitchen. “Right! We need to go!”_

_Kara pinched her nose in annoyance as they hugged a confused Lena and said their goodbyes. When the door had finally shut behind them, not before Maggie had taken the opportunity to turn and wiggle her eyebrows at her, she sat down next to Lena and started picking up some of the spilled game pieces._

_Lena was looking at the door curiously. “What has gotten into them?”_

_“Just ignore them. It’s...it’s nothing.” Kara started to stack the pile of poker chips by color._

_Lena laughed at Kara’s appraisal of her sister and girlfriend and turned back to the game in her lap. A few moments of silence passed between them as they each worked on their respective game before Lena started the conversation again. “I’m sorry I had to keep stepping away to deal with that merger and interrupting every game we played tonight.”_

_“It’s no big deal. You run the biggest corporation in the world.” Kara put the last of the poker chips in the chip rack and closed its lid. “I’m just happy you could take the time off to come tonight, being so busy with that merger on top of everything else you do.”_

_“I’d do anything to get to spend some time with you,” Lena softly admitted. She did not look up from the box in her lap but she could feel Kara’s eyes on her. She swallowed hard and tried to change the subject, embarrassed by her confession. “I think this game is missing a piece.”_

_Kara let her eyes leave Lena’s face and saw that the missing piece was by her foot. She picked it up and held it out for Lena. When Lena’s fingers closed around the piece, Kara took a hold of her hand._

_“Lena?”_

_Lena raised her chin and their eyes met. When Lena started to lean towards her, Kara pressed forward eagerly. To hell with what Alex or the DEO thought._

_The ringing of Lena’s phone was the only thing in the world that could have prevented the kiss, and its insistent shrill filled the room as if it’s sole purpose in this universe was to stop them._

_Lena groaned, stopping her progress forward for a disappointing second before letting her head come to a rest against Kara’s forehead. They had been so close that she could taste Kara’s breath on her lips. They were so close. So, so close. “Damn it. I’m sorry.”_

_“It’s okay.” Kara moved herself back from Lena giving her the space to get off the couch._

_Lena rose from her seat and snatched the phone off the end table. “Yes?” She stood there in front of Kara, a hand on her hip in annoyance at the interruption. “Can’t it wait until morning? Yes...but the product...” She exhaled defeat._

_Kara reached out and took Lena’s hand again. “Lena, go. You need to go, it’s okay. I promise.”_

_A sad smile spread on Lena’s lips and she nodded as she looked down at Kara. “Jess, I’ll be there in twenty.”_

_Kara stood from the couch and allowed Lena to enter her arms as she hung up the phone. “They need you.”_

_“And I hate it,” Lena mumbled into Kara’s shoulder._

_Kara squeezed her tighter, breathing in the comforting scent of Lena’s shampoo and perfume. She would happily stay like this for the rest of time if possible. The steady beat of Lena’s heart against her body, the warmth of her being. She felt like she had found her safe haven when Lena entered her arms, something that unfortunately did not happen as often as Kara wanted._

_“Text me tomorrow?” Lena asked with so much hope in her eyes that it tore Kara’s heart apart._

_“Of course.” Kara did her best to smile hoping that she was convincing that everything was fine right now. She would need to think out her plan of how to convince Alex and the DEO and whoever else wanted to stand in her way._

It had been two days since then. Two days of anguish, being kept apart because of their jobs. Lena’s merger for L-Corp had kept her at the office even later at night than her usual schedule. And Kara was in no position to complain. The President had been making impactful moves for the alien population and Snapper, despite his annoyance of her, had her covering every move, every speech, every bill proposal. She was finding it difficult to be both a reporter and Supergirl because of the amount of work she had been given. The only time they had seen one another in the past two days was when she, as Supergirl, had checked in at L-Corp after the DEO had received an alert that a fire alarm had been triggered there. It ended up being nothing but Kara wanted to check it out nonetheless. 

Not that it mattered. She still had no plan to convince anyone that her and Lena could be together safely. And over the last two days doubt started to creep in. What if Lena hated her for being Supergirl? What if Lena wouldn’t care that she’s Supergirl but not want to date her because of it? Could she date Lena and just not tell her? At least until everyone else was more comfortable with the idea? 

Alex had apparently told Maggie that she had advised Kara not to pursue a relationship with Lena and that had caused a fight between the two of them. Maggie and Lena had become increasingly close, the two being on the outskirts of being Super Friends and having some shared past trauma that made a friendship between them second nature. And because of that Maggie was firmly in Kara and Lena’s corner.

She sighed and shook her head at herself. Perhaps it was fairer to them both that they were kept apart until she could figure this out. She took another deep breath of sweet fall air, letting the comfort of her favorite season try to ease her stress. 

“Supergirl, we have a bit of a situation downtown. Outside of National City Trust Bank.” The crackle of Alex’s voice through her earpiece interrupted her rumination. As happy as she was that she had Alex in her corner and had a better relationship with her, things were still tense between them since game night and it was obvious in Alex’s voice that she felt the same from her side.

Kara narrowed her eyes toward downtown and focused her super-hearing. She could see people scattering, could hear their screams. 

So much for a peaceful day. 

The urban block was chaotic as she approached. The screams of those on the street echoed against the buildings. She hovered several stories above the street trying to find the source of the panic. But she could see nothing other than a scene of mass panic. People were running in every direction, not from a single area or point. They were frantic and confused. They didn’t know where the threat was either. 

Suddenly, a cold tremor wracked her body. She lost ten feet of altitude, like her powers had flickered just like the power did during the thunderstorms that terrified her when she first came to Earth. The feeling was gone as quickly as it came and she gained control before what had happened fully registered. 

As she looked around again, a knot formed in her stomach and something inside of her screamed for her to stop, to run, to avoid being here. 

“Alex, you guys better get down here. Something’s not right. I feel...I don’t know.” 

“We’re on our way! J’onn should be there any minute. We’re three minutes out.” 

The rumble of the DEO jeep carrying Alex and the backup team in her earpiece brought her relief. The last time she had felt whatever this was, a quiver or a foreboding prickling of her senses, she had succumbed to red kryptonite. 

She landed hard in the middle of the intersection, harder than she intended with her powers still ebbing. She looked down at the shallow crater beneath her boots as she shook her head and rolled her shoulders, trying to regain a sense of balance. The ground felt like it was still feet away though she knew she had landed. One step out of the crater and her stomach revolted. The surge of bile burned her throat and she clutched at it with desperate fingers. She staggered out of the crater and fell to her knees. 

Then the feeling was gone. She took a deep breath, the taste of bile still fresh in her mouth but not dominating her focus. 

People from the upper floors of the buildings had made their way to ground level, scattering like those before them. She did another survey, looking for any indication for the cause of the panic. She tried to detect the point of conflict that everyone was running from and then realized they were all running from her, from where she had landed. She looked all around her, using her x-ray vision to look through the buildings. There was nothing there.

“Alex, do you have a visual?” 

She spun in place, trying to find an explanation. With her x-ray vision she saw people hunkered down in the buildings around the intersection, all trying to take cover from whatever had spooked them. The odd thing was that it was happening in every building so the cause had to be here on the street. 

Alex’s voice came back through the earpiece but it was accompanied by a great deal of static. “Winn has pulled up the traffic cams. We can see you. What’s the situation?”

“Supergirl.” J’onn landed right in front of her. “What do we have?”

“I don’t know. There’s nothing here. I don’t understand.” 

She had hardly finished her statement when a deafening boom shook the buildings around her and J’onn, like thunder but rather than coming from above, it seemed to come from the depths of the Earth right below their feet. As the boom began to ripple outward, its echo rattled everything around like an earthquake. Even over the deep boom, Kara could hear the sound of glass shattering, even more car alarms blaring, and the asphalt of the streets cracking. The buildings around them groaned as if they could no longer stay upright. She looked up and saw splintered windows start to rain down on the street. 

She darted to a couple who had taken shelter underneath the awning for a pub, and was able to swoop them to safety behind a delivery truck just as a full pane of glass from the Trust Bank’s top floor smashed across the sidewalk where they had been standing. She could feel that she didn’t have her full power, wasn’t as fast or as strong as she should be. Though not as super, her hearing could still detect the people in the buildings screaming even louder and she knew that each building was crumbling inside too. 

She was at a loss of what to do. The thousands of people taking shelter in the buildings around the intersection were not safe inside, not if another boom occurred, but they were not safe on the street either. She looked up again. They were surrounded by glass buildings, electric lines, signs. There was too much that could collapse down on them.

J’onn had grabbed a young woman, shielding her from a logo that had broken from above one of the awnings. 

“J’onn! There is no way to get them all out of here!”

“We’ve got to get them–” Before J’onn could finish, the thunder and the rumbling stopped. 

The intersection was filled with a sudden eerie silence. 

Kara rose from her place behind the delivery truck, her arms still outstretched in an effort to protect the couple. She watched as J’onn slowly stood as well, suspicious of the abrupt end to the earthquake. 

“Agent Danvers, come in,” he tried. 

All they heard was static. 

“Stay here, right here,” she instructed the couple. They nodded, and knelt back down as she joined J’onn in the middle of the street. 

“Agent Danvers, can you hear me?”

They were only met with more static.

J’onn looked east, down the street where they could see the DEO jeeps coming towards them. 

“Stay two blocks away – don’t get too close,” J’onn instructed, hoping that the team could hear them even though they were not getting a response.

Kara watched as the jeeps braked hard, skidding to a stop at odd angles. They had heard J’onn’s command. She breathed a sigh of relief, knowing Alex and the team were still there in some capacity. 

And that is when she noticed it. There was a strange orange mist surrounding the intersection, almost like a miniature domed atmosphere over the area. It had not been there before, she was sure of it. She took flight from the street, unsteady and unsure, trying to find how high it was above the ground. Nearly ten stories up she came face-to-face with the mist. It was unlike anything she had ever seen. 

“Supergirl, don’t touch it,” J’onn ordered.

But it was too late. Her fingers had already made contact. The strange mist was grimy and cold. She tried to push up into it. Her heartbeat picked up when she realized she could not penetrate it or move it. They were trapped within it. 

“I can’t breach it,” she told J’onn as she lowered herself back to the ground. “J’onn?”

He was standing there looking at her. 

“J’onn?”

She took two steps toward him. He had not blinked once. His eyes were raised as if she was still in the air above him. She spun back to the couple behind the delivery truck. They too were eerily stilled. And that is when she noticed that the man had started to rise from the curb but had stopped mid-action. No human could hold that position so still and for this long. 

They were all frozen in place.

“Alex, they aren’t moving. The people, J’onn...they’re just...standing there.”

There was no response. Not even static.

Another boom violently blasted from the area, sending more glass down to the streets. But the area within the mist dome was spared. It was like they were in their own world. Kara watched as crumbled pieces of the buildings outside the mist barrier rained down to the street but the area within the barrier remained perfectly in its condition.

“Something’s wrong. I can’t see what’s causing it!” she reported, praying Alex could still hear her. She feared for the people outside the mist dome. 

She whipped her head back and forth looking for the source of the thunder again. But the silence returned quicker than before. This time it was pure silence. Her super-hearing could not detect any sound. No people, no birds, no wind. Not even the electronic hum of the city. She realized she couldn’t even hear the sound of her own heartbeat. 

“Alex? Alex? Can you hear me?”

“ _Th_ _e first hero turned against its beloved._ ” A deep and raspy voice rang out. 

The voice had taken her by much surprise that her knees buckled beneath her and she fell into a crouched position. She was not sure where it came from, or if it was simply within her own head. The voice was dreamy and yet it grated each of her nerves. 

“Alex! Can you hear that?! Alex!” She looked back down the street where the DEO jeeps had stopped but she couldn’t see them anymore. The mist had thickened and was no longer transparent. 

She started to feel sick again, her stomach churning in the most violent way. Whatever this was it was worse than Kryptonite. 

“ _Submitting to the monsters of jealousy, greed, and pride._ ”

She fell the rest of the way to her knees as her vision clouded. The street scene under the dome of mist simmered away like water evaporating on a hot day. She was suffocated with this new humidity. She tried to cough but her body felt out of her control. Her eyes squeezed shut as another wave of nausea flooded through her. When it passed, she opened her eyes, now heavy with exhaustion, to a very different scene. 

It was Krypton. 

She was in her dwelling back on Krypton. It was so real. She let her shoulders relax, realizing the exhaustion and pain were gone, as the once familiar sight and smells met her senses. She took a deep breath and exhaled with a smile. She had missed that smell. It was the smell of home. National City, the Danvers, her friends, even Lena were all but gone from her mind and memory, like a dream that could not be pulled back once she had awakened. 

“ _Those once protected now suffer at the lost hero’s hands._ ”

She looked around for the source of that grating voice again. It especially did not belong here, not in her home. 

She rounded the corner into the main room of their dwelling and found someone. But this person could not be the source of the voice. 

It was her mother. 

Alura was standing beside the window looking out at the sprawling capital of Krypton. Kara felt a lump form in her throat. Her lip began to tremble and she could feel tears building around the brim of her eyes. 

“Mom?” Kara reached a hand out, so sure she could touch her, that it wouldn’t be like those times she reached for her mother’s hologram knowing her fingers would only touch air. 

“ _Their demise will be the demise of all._ ”

This time the voice was sinister. The hair on her arms stood up and she felt like someone was right behind her. Before she could spin to take on her attacker, her mother turned away from the window. Kara was rooted in awe at seeing her mother. It was really her. No blue glow of the hologram, no fuzzy appearance. It was her. 

“Mom...” A tear slid down her cheek as she reached out her hand further.

Alura looked down at Kara’s outstretched hand with an amused look. “Oh, Kara. You’re too late.” The room around them began to shake. The structures outside of the window began to crumble and the ground cracked, Kryptonite green shining through. “You didn’t save us.”

“No! I can! I can!” She stretched her hand out further and her fingers touched cloth. She knew she was real. “I can save you!”

“Hey, it’s okay. Everyone is safe. No one to save.” Alex’s face appeared before her, her eyes full of concern. “Supergirl...you’re gonna have to let go...”

Kara looked to her outstretched hand. Her fingers were wound tightly around the edge of Alex’s tactical vest. She released her sister and slouched all the way to the ground. The exhaustion was back but the realization that it was not her mother, that it wasn’t really Krypton that she just saw weighed her down even more. 

“I’m sorry.”

“Let’s get you out of here.” Alex waved over Vasquez. “Come on, Supergirl. Up we go.”

Alex and Vasquez hauled her up with much effort. They both groaned as Kara started to go limp with dizziness as she left the ground.

“You’re gonna have to help us a bit,” Vasquez gritted through her teeth as she strained under Kara’s weight.

Kara took a deep breath and steadied herself between the two of them, putting more of her own weight on her own two feet. “Where’s J’onn? Is he okay?”

Vasquez slid an arm around her back and pulled one of Kara’s arms over her shoulders. “We’ve already got him loaded up.”

“What about those people...” She started to turn toward the delivery truck but Alex stopped her.

“Everyone is okay. We saw you fall to your knees. When you did, everything here went back to normal. Everything but you.” Alex mimicked Vasquez's position on the other side of Kara and together, they were able to walk the hero to one of the jeeps in a slow, awkward dance. 

“What did I do, Alex?” Kara feared for anyone who had been close to her. When she lost consciousness or was affected mentally she had a tendency of hurting others, not on purpose of course. “Did I hurt anyone?”

“No, no, no. Nothing like that. You were just kneeling there, speaking in Kryptonese about your mother. Your eyes were clouded and no matter what I did I couldn’t get you to snap out of it.”

Once they had settled her into the back of the DEO’s medical transit jeep, Vasquez gave her a reassuring smile and patted her knee before taking leave to go coordinate the local police and the clean-up effort for the area. Kara looked around and noticed the degree of destruction.

“Are you sure everyone’s okay?”

Alex climbed up into the back of the jeep with her. “A couple of critical cases going into surgery now. But yes, mostly minor injuries and no deaths.” She wrapped her arm around Kara’s slumped shoulders. “What’s in your hand?”

Kara looked down in confusion. It was not until that moment that she realized her left hand was gripping something. She slowly opened it to reveal a charcoal gray stone inside it. Though it was dark gray it was somehow also bright. Not quite smooth but not quite rough. She had never seen a stone like this before, not on Earth or any other planet she had traveled to. 

“I don’t know...”

Alex snapped on a pair of latex gloves that she found in the medic transport’s supply cabinet. She cautiously picked up the stone and slid it into an evidence canister. “Did you get this out there? It doesn’t look like anything I’ve ever seen,” she said as she held the container up and examined it closer. 

Kara took some comfort that Alex was confused by it too. At least she wasn’t completely crazy. 

“What happened to me, Alex?”

“I don’t know. We’ll get it figured out.”

The truck roared beneath them as it started up. Kara looked out the back window at the DEO clean-up crews that were already starting to haul away debris out of the street so that utility and construction crews could start surveying the damage. 

And that’s when she saw him. 

He was standing on a corner, standing so still it gave her the creeps. He was surrounded by mist, similar to the mist she had experienced in the street during the attack, but this time it was darker and gray like the beard that hung down to his chest. Like the stone. Blue piercing eyes looked back at her and she felt like he could see everything in her mind and soul, like she had been completely barred open for him to study. His presence was somehow alarming yet calming, like he belonged there but also like he was from another time or another world. She didn’t know who he was and she knew she had never seen him before but when their eyes met through the jeep’s window she felt a sudden sense of familiarity.

“Stop the truck!”

Alex banged her fist on the roof of the vehicle and the driver slammed on the brakes causing the supplies in the cabinets lining the cabin to tumble out of place. “What? What is it?”

Kara didn’t answer. She threw open the door and jumped out. Her feet slipped out from underneath her and her knees hit the ground hard. 

“Easy! Slow down!” Alex yelled. She followed Kara, much more gracefully, more concerned of how she was going to get a teetering Kryptonian into the back of the truck all by herself. 

Kara stood in the street and looked to the now vacant corner where the man had been. She looked up and down the street and into the nearest alleyway. 

“He’s gone.”

Alex had caught up with her. “Who is gone?”

“That man, the one with the long beard. Didn’t you see him?”

“No, I didn’t see anyone like that.” Alex’s voice was full of concern. She put the back of her hand to Kara’s forehead and felt a cold sweat. “Let’s get you back to the DEO so I can check you out.”

Kara let Alex lead her back to the jeep but she couldn’t shake the feeling that they were being watched. She looked over her shoulder once more and could have sworn she saw a faint figure still on the corner. 


	2. Chapter 2

Alex watched as her sister crumpled to the floor. She stiffened, waiting for the reaction. Kara’s face looked terrible, flushed in an unpleasant sickly way with beads of sweat. With every touch of the mysterious stone, she was getting worse. This time, as she looked up to the camera, knowing Alex was watching, she couldn’t make it back to her feet. She held her left side gingerly as if she had been stabbed before slumping fully to the cold floor.

"We didn’t get it,” Winn gulped and evaluated Alex’s reaction to this news. The computer made a soft but persistent beep in warning. The progress bar turned red and read 93.4%. “She’ll need to do it again.” 

Alex settled her face into her hands. She knew there was no other alternative. The scan had to be complete. “Are we sure this isn’t causing any lasting damage?” She had already asked the question before but couldn’t stop the urge to clarify the response once again. 

Winn clicked a few buttons and turned a monitor towards Alex. The screen showed a scan of Kara’s body and her vitals. “Overall she’s fine. It’s more like she has car or air sickness, or something like the flu. It sucks in the present but it’s nothing she can’t get over.” Although his words were so matter-of-fact, his voice trembled in concern. 

“Call upstairs and have them get the sunlamps ready. Let’s get her back as close to normal as possible.”

Once they had returned the strange stone to the DEO, Kara had difficulty telling them about the vision of her mother and the voice who delivered the message. She struggled to get the phrasing of the message right or to fully describe her experience. They asked her to try again but no details beyond those she had already said came forward. At some point, she had slid the stone out of the DEO canister Alex had placed it in and that is when it happened again. 

Everything changed in a blink of an eye for Alex. One second she was watching Kara examine the canister with the stone and the next Kara was on the floor sobbing, her arms wrapped around her middle as if she was trying to keep herself from imploding, the strange stone laying beside her. Almost every computer within a few floors of where they were had burned out and those who had been near Kara had the same experience as Alex: complete chaos in less than a second. 

When she collected herself, Kara claimed that the vision and the message took at least two minutes and that they all had frozen much like J’onn and the people near her in the initial attack downtown. This time she remembered more details though because of the pain she was still unsure of parts of the experience.

Winn was able to construct an examination room in the lowest floor of the DEO headquarters building so the regular functioning of the organization would not be interrupted as they tested Kara with the stone. He had lined the observation room with lead and water barriers to prevent the equipment from shorting out. They still couldn’t see or hear what Kara experienced in her head but it prevented them from freezing in those moments allowing him to conduct tests on Kara and the stone in real time.

Alex used her hip to push open the door to the examination room. “Kara?”

All she got in response was a cough. 

She dropped to her knees. When she touched Kara’s arm Kara jumped as if she hadn’t yet returned to this reality. Then when her eyes focused they were filled with so much anger. Red light started to form and Alex hurriedly backed away. “Kara...don’t,” she warned. “You’re okay. You’re here with us.”

Kara crawled to her knees, her head now bent. Her whole body rose and fell as she took in great breaths. She put one foot under her but wobbled. With another breath she pushed herself up off the floor. When she raised her head, her eyes did not shine with red though they were bloodshot. 

Alex rose too, but cautiously kept her eyes on Kara. She side-stepped twice, slowly toward the door. She didn’t really fear for her life. She knew Kara would never hurt her on purpose but a disoriented Kryptonian was someone who caused a lot of unintentional damage. “Kara?” she asked once more. 

“I’m...I’m okay.” She took another breath and swallowed painfully.

“We need you to do it one more time.”

Kara looked at her like she was crazy. 

“We’re at 93%. Once more and Winn says we will be done.” 

“One more? One more until the next one more!”

“Kara, we’re trying—”

“No! I’m not doing it again!” 

Her shriek of defiance was so loud that even the agents who were running more tests for Winn several rooms over peered down the hallway in concern. The tantrum was too much for her body. She turned and retched. 

Alex scoffed, her eyes looking up to the heavens as she tried to harness some holy calmness rather than yell back. She hated seeing her sister in pain but she had explained time and again that this was the only way they had at understanding the stone. “Kara, we have to figure out what this thing is.”

“Then you fucking touch it!” The rare f-bomb exploded in the room like a nuclear warhead and her eyes glowed red again. It had been a long time since she lost control but in this moment all she wanted to do was burn the room and the stupid stone down. She turned and bent over a bucket that she had already vomited into once, fearing that more bile would come spewing as her stomach did flips. 

Hand on her holster, Alex took a deep breath not wanting to draw her weapon loaded with Kryptonite darts. When she saw that Kara had started to collect herself she moved her hand back to her hip. “Nothing happens when any of us touches it. Only you.”

“What good are these scans anyway if you can’t see or hear what I do? I told you the message and I’ve confirmed it’s correct.”

“Winn has done all the tests he can without you. We’ve never seen a stone like this before. We have no idea where it comes from or why it does what it does. But he thinks we may know more with these tests. It’s our best shot.”

Kara knew Alex was right but that didn’t stop her from not wanting to do this anymore. She was sick of feeling sick. Though it subsided an hour or two after sitting under a sunlamp, she was still left with a knot in her stomach from the anxiety and the sadness of seeing this cruel version of her mother. It was hard enough for her body to deal with this physical toll but add on her lack of sleep and nightmares and she was feeling especially out of sorts. 

“Fine. Give me a minute and we’ll do it again.”

“We don’t have to right now.” She looked up to the camera to signal that it was safe for Winn to come in. “We might have something that will help.”

Winn came into the room carrying a glass of light green liquid. “Kara, I think I have just the thing to make you feel better.”

Kara recoiled. Anything green, other than Lena’s eyes, made her nervous. “What is it?”

“Think of it like a Kryptonese ginger ale. I think, or at least I hope, it’ll make your stomach settle.”

She looked to Alex who nodded her head in confirmation that Winn was telling the truth and that she thought it was safe. Uneasily, she took the glass from Winn. She sniffed it noting that it didn’t smell dangerous, if that was a thing. She brought it to her lips and slowly tasted it. It was refreshing, the coldness instantly calming her system. Encouraged by this she gulped down more. 

“It’s not bad.” She still felt uneasy but it wasn’t as intense as it had been and this was quicker relief than just the sunlamps. “With this and a little sun I will consider doing it one more time.”

“Good. Let’s leave it be for the night. We’ll get the last scan when you get off work tomorrow.” Alex motioned for Kara to go upstairs to the sunlamp room. 

“Sorry,” Kara mumbled as she ambled by. She didn’t specify what she was sorry about but hoped Alex realized it was an apology for everything. She was comforted as Alex rubbed her arm as she passed. 

She had to get all of this under control, she thought as she settled under the sunlamp. It wasn’t just the physical effects of the stone but the psychological ones too. And the timing was inconvenient as she had just taken Mon-El under her wing.

As if her thought of him had called him to her like a dinner bell, Mon-El wandered into the room. He examined everything, always touching and grabbing anything he wanted because, well, that was just who he was. It wasn’t out of curiosity but more out of he could do what he wanted when he wanted it. At least, he thought he could. He still maintained an air of arrogance though he was restricted to the DEO and their rules. “Whatcha doing?”

“Recharging.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “What are you doing here? Why aren’t you testing your abilities upstairs with J’onn?”

“He had to attend to something else and said I could have a break. What is this thing?” He motioned to the lounge chair and lamp.

“A sunlamp. It heals and restores me when I’m not at my fullest.”

“You, the hero of Earth, not up to your fullest? What’s got you down?”

“Don’t worry about it.” She couldn’t quite tell if he was mocking her or not. “How’s the training going?”

“Pretty good I guess.” He lifted his hands up in front of them like he had never seen such appendages before. “My powers here on Earth are remarkable.”

“And that’s why you have to stay here,” she warned. He had been repeatedly asking to be let out of DEO custody and be free to go back into the human world. Even though the attack on the president wasn't his fault, his clear indifference of using his powers in public as well as his missing knowledge of human customs made him a ticking time bomb around Earthlings. He’d already proven that to them in his drunken excursion with Winn that resulted in a bar fight.

“What if you were to accompany me outside the DEO? Surely I and the humans would be safe with the most powerful woman in the world at my side.” He winked and flashed an arrogant smile at her. His use of flirtation as a way to get what he wanted was infuriating. That, and his constant arguing and negotiating.

She sipped some more of Winn’s Kryptonian ginger ale as she evaluated him. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Oh, okay. Well, I’ll leave you to your recharging.”

He didn’t argue which was suspicious. He looked beaten down and a part of her felt sorry for him. Maybe his being contained here was starting to wear on him. “Look, Mon-El, it’s going to take time. I once broke three toes of a guy who asked me to dance by accidentally stepping on his foot. You have to get used to being here and functioning on Earth. It’ll take time. This won’t last forever.”

“Yeah.” He didn’t believe her. He started to walk away but stopped and addressed her again. “I thought it would be fun to have these powers but instead they are making me a prisoner.”

Kara took in what he said. She had spent so much of her human life fighting for alien rights and showing people that aliens could be trusted. Yet here she was not trusting of Mon-El because of old prejudices and his irresponsibility thus far in the human world. “These powers can be fun.”

“Yeah right.”

“I’ll teach you. Maybe we can convince J’onn to a tiny field trip.”

“Really?” He lit up like a kid at Christmas. “But why are you doing this? I thought you wanted me in here as much as they do.”

“I wasn’t sent to Earth to be a hero. I was sent to look after my cousin, to teach him and keep him safe. But I was too late. I never got to fulfill that purpose. So maybe in some weird way helping you gives me a second chance to do that. We all deserve second chances.”

“Even a Daxamite?”

She smirked. “Yes, even a Daxamite.”

He beamed at her. “Well then, I’m in your hands.”

With a little bow he strutted out of the room, his arrogance on display again. Kara rested back against the chair as her skin soaked up the sunlight and wondered if she had just fallen for his trickery. But she thought she felt a little bit better, beyond the sunlight and ginger ale, now that she had started to make things right with Mon-El so maybe even if his flirting and pouting were for selfish causes she could get something out of it too.

************************************************************************************

“Are you ready for your first day of work?” Kara put on her best fake smile. She tried to gather herself and make it seem as if everything was hunky-dory. She was still weary about needing to do another test with the stone and very much confused by the circumstances surrounding the stone. Alex had questioned her decision to start taking Mon-El out immediately but she was convinced that since she couldn’t control the stone or the tests that at the very least she could work on integrating Mon-El.

It was dawn. The sun had not yet peaked over the hills on National City’s eastern front as Kara had flown from her apartment to the DEO. Dawn was such a comforting time for her. The air was as crisp and cool as it was going to be for the whole day and the smell of a new start hung like the dew on the grass. No matter how down she felt, flying through the city at dawn always seemed to make her feel a tad better. 

Mon-El moaned in his sleep, a drool stain on his pillow. 

“Hey, wake up. It’s time to get ready for work.”

“Work? I thought you said we were supposed to take a field trip?”

“Yes, well I mean it’s technically a field trip for you.”

He sat up on his cot and rubbed his eye. “I looked ‘field trip’ up on the Google thing and it didn’t say anything about working. It was more about seeing animals and governmental buildings.” 

“We are going to start to establish a human identity for you. And human adults work. A job is a place to do good for the world and connect with people. It’s a good place to make friends and start to learn some of the basics about human life.”

Mon-El scrutinized her. “Are we talking manual labor or…” 

“I was thinking you could come to work with me. James has set you up an internship position. This way if you don’t show up on some days or eventually leave we don’t have a lot of explaining to do.”

“Well, alright.” He clapped his hands and started to walk barefoot toward the door in his boxers and tank top.

“No, wait,” Kara called after him. “You need to change.”

She had a bag of clothes of varying sizes that she hoped would work for him. It only took three tries to get his outfit right. She had to admit he looked like the male version of her human self with his cardigan and bright colored design. It complimented him. 

“Not bad,” she admitted, eyeing him up and down. 

He smirked and swayed at her a little. “You like what you see? I can show you a lot more—”

“Now you need glasses!” She didn’t want to hear the rest of his line. 

“Already taken care of. I took these bad boys from a guy at that bar.” He slipped on a pair of sunglasses and held out his hands as if he had done a magic trick. 

“No, I meant regular glasses. Like mine. And don’t steal. That’s not good here on Earth. Pretty sure it’s not good anywhere,” she mumbled this last part. She handed him a pair of glasses that were designed much like hers to help take some of the strain off her eyes while controlling her powers. 

He slipped them on and then hummed in satisfaction. “These actually make my eyes feel better.”

“And in the case you ever want to become a hero, they’ll make sure no one knows that Mon-El is Mike.”

“Who’s Mike?” 

“You are.” She started to fill his hands with objects. “Winn got you an ID, a social security card, and a birth certificate. And I got you this wallet so you can put all of it in there for now until you get your own place.” 

“Mike Matthews,” he read off the ID. He fumbled the papers he had been given as he flipped through them. “I don’t know what any of these things do.”

“You’ll learn about it all at CatCo. Are you ready?”

He turned excitedly to her. “I’m so ready to learn how to fly. Will my glasses stay on?”

“You can’t fly to work.” Kara rounded on him. “That was rule number one J’onn told you. No using your powers!”

“Why not?” He looked most displeased with the reminder of this information.

“Look, Mon-El, you can’t go about using your powers. People can’t know you have them. You have to act normal. Okay?”

Begrudgingly he agreed. He gave himself a look over in the mirror. “Not bad. Do you think I’m ready?”

Kara took a deep breath. “Let’s hope so.”

****

The elevator dinged as they reached CatCo’s main floor. The office was already buzzing with work. As soon as Mon-El took a step off the elevator he froze and started to retreat.”

“What are all of those alarms?”

Kara pulled him back out into the foyer. “Those are telephones. It’s a communication system. You answer them when they make the noise.” 

“Who do I give the bribery coffee to?” They had stopped at Noonan’s and loaded up on large coffees. Mon-El carefully balanced three trays of them as they entered the bullpen. 

“It’s not bribery! It’s just something you can do to be nice to the assistants. They run the place and can make your life a whole lot easier when you’re nice to them.” She pointed out people to give the coffees to and helped him navigate his way across the room. 

“I don’t know about you but this is bribery…”

“Ugh, no...oh! You’ll definitely want to give one to Ms. Teschmacher. Good morning, Eve!”

Kara pulled him around a few people to her old desk right outside of Cat’s, now James’s, office. “Have you met our new intern?”

Eve looked up from her planner. Her expression went from surprise to love boat dreamy in less than a nanosecond. “Well, hello. What’s your name?”

“Mike, number 498—”

“Ope, no she doesn’t need your social security number.”

Mon-El dropped his voice to a whisper, “Then why did I memorize all those numbers on that fake ID?”

“You mean your real ID,” Kara snapped back and bulged her eyes out at him. She then awkwardly laughed and looked back to Eve who was none the wiser to the conversation that was taking place. She was too busy examining Mon-El from head to toe. 

Kara could barely register her disgust when James appeared at her side. “James, here is your new intern. This is Mike.”

James laughed and extended his hand, fully in the know of Mike’s true identity. “Hi Mike. Ready to get started?”

“Yes. But I’m all out of bribery coffee.”

Kara pinched the bridge of her nose. She was starting to get a headache from only the two hours of bringing Mon-El out into the world. 

James laughed. “Well, that’s okay. I was about to take a break and go get some myself. Ms. Teschmacher has put some reports on your desk that you can get started on.”

Mon-El turned back to Eve and raised his eyebrows at her suggestively. 

Kara thought she might gag. “I’ll come with you! Let me get him settled first and I’ll meet you at the elevator.”

She pulled Mon-El away from Eve’s desk back toward the corner with the other interns. She didn’t know who was going to cause more trouble, Mon-El or Eve, as they were both drooling over one another. It was best to separate them now. 

“Wouldn’t it just be easier for you to fly than take the elevator?” Mon-El asked loudly.

“Ssssshhhh!” She stopped it and made him focus on her eyes. “We talked about this. You can’t reveal your powers to anyone when you’re Mike. Don’t use them and don’t talk about them. If, one day, you want to become a hero then we’ll talk about using them under your superhero name but for now keep it quiet.”

He put his hands up in defense. “Okay, sorry.”

“Alright, here is your desk.” Kara pulled the chair back and indicated for him to sit. The desk had a stack of files in the center, the ones Eve had left for him. 

“Hold up, you mean I can’t use my powers to get through this boring stack of papers?”

“No!”

“You mean to tell me that you’ve never used your powers to do menial tasks at work?”

Kara laughed and then scoffed. “Absolutely not,” she lied. 

“You’re lying. Your forehead crinkles when you lie.”

“No it doesn’t! And how would you know anyway? You barely know me.”

“Well because you’ve lied the majority of the time of us knowing one another so…”

“Just shut up and sit down. No using your powers!”

He plopped himself down in the chair causing it to creak and crack.

“Easy!” Kara looked around to make sure no one else was watching. “Remember, gentle.”

“Alright, alright.” He swung back and forth in the chair. “I kind of like this.”

Kara rolled her eyes. “Okay, I need to go catch up with James. Do not move from this desk. Do not talk to anyone unless they talk to you. And if they talk to you just say you’re new and you don’t understand. Got it?”

“Got it.” He pulled a file off the stack and opened it. He smiled at her and reassured her, “I got this.”

Kara reluctantly left him. Twice she turned back to make sure he had stayed put. She came up behind James waiting at the elevator. “This may be a bad idea.”

“Why do you say that?” James hit the down button, and leaned against the wall as they waited. “He seems capable.”

“All morning he’s been doing the opposite of what I tell him. I told him I was going to show him how to take the bus and he flies off after I had just reminded him he can’t use his powers. Then, I told him not to tell anyone about his powers and while I was waiting for the coffee I caught him flirting with the barista and telling her how many concrete blocks he can smash.”

“To be fair, she probably didn’t believe him.”

“That’s not the point.” They stepped into the elevator and she was glad no one else followed so they could continue on alone. “It feels like he’s purposely undermining me. I know being new here is overwhelming and hard but he’s not making it any easier.”

James put a hand on her shoulder. “He’ll learn. We’ll just have to chalk up some of his mistakes to him being socially awkward or from some weird religious background or something.”

This made Kara laugh. “Yeah, I guess.”

They stepped into the line to get coffee. Kara noticed the barista look at her and then looked around for Mon-El. Everyone was so enchanted with him. 

“How are you holding up after that attack earlier? Have you guys figured out the message?” James asked. 

J’onn had ordered them all to keep the message and the details of the attack under wraps. He was convinced they had a mole in the DEO and that person had been helping or fueling the increasing alien attacks happening in the city. The attack and the message were therefore only for him, Alex, Winn, and Kara. Alex had vetted two other DEO members who kept guard of their testing area in the lowest level of the DEO compound. Winn had also screened a couple of agents to help run tests though they weren’t fully debriefed on the scenario. But, of course, Winn had also said something to James. She wasn’t surprised or mad about it. James often helped them. 

“It’s slow but Winn and Alex say we’re almost there. I’m supposed to finish up today after work.” She cursed her decision to try and put Mon-El in the real world with the stone still hanging over her head. “I’ll be glad when it’s over.”

“Me too. For your sake. I hope you don’t take this the wrong way but you look rough. I’ve never seen you with dark circles under your eyes. You look sick.”

“I feel sick.”

James paid for their coffees and walked her back to the elevator in silence. When they got in and started to move upward, back toward CatCo’s main floor he continued. “I hate to see you like this. I remember once when your cousin first came into contact with Kryptonite...it was dreadful and terrifying. To see someone so strong be so affected by something. I’m sure Alex is struggling to.”

“Yeah, I guess.” She wasn’t really paying attention to what he was saying. All she could focus on was the corner where Mike’s desk was. And where _he_ obviously was not. “Where’s Mike?”

James looked too. “Maybe he’s in the bathroom?”

Kara used her super hearing and almost spilled her coffee at the sounds. “Dammit!”

She rounded into a hallway that led away from CatCo’s foyer. The sounds that met her ears made her want to vomit nearly as much as the stone did. She flung open the door to a small copy room that they used for side projects. 

“Rao! What are you two doing?!” She bumped back into the wall suddenly afraid to touch anything. She was definitely never using that copier and side table again. “I mean, I know what it is you’re doing. Just stop!”

“Kara! This isn’t...it’s...it’s not what it looks like,” Eve huffed in bursts. 

Mon-El smirked at her and continued to thrust into Eve, not caring at all that he had an audience now.

“Stop! This is the definition of something looking like what it looks like.” She turned her eyes upward but kept her hands on her hips. “Can you please get dressed now?”

“But I’m not finished…” Mon-El pouted.

“Mike! Stop! You’re done. Eve go!”

Kara glanced back to make sure they were both obeying her orders. She scolded herself for doing so as soon as her eyes saw bare genitalia.

Eve pulled up the lacy underwear that had been dangling at her ankle. She didn’t even finish buttoning up her dress as she scattered, too afraid and embarrassed to stay one more second. The waterworks were starting and she refused to cry in front of Kara again. 

“I’ll catch up with you later!” Mon-El shouted at her. He turned to Kara and smiled big. “I think I may have more powers here on Earth than we realized. Do you think I can get any woman to fall instantly for me?”

Kara shielded her eyes. “We’re not talking until you put _it_ away!”

Mon-El laughed and tucked himself back into his pants. “Earth’s modesty customs are unusual. Winn showed me videos where humans didn’t seem to mind being naked.”

“Stop!” Kara instructed again. Once he had his clothes situated she grabbed his arm and pulled him from the room. “What were you thinking?!”

“That technically I haven’t had sex in 35 years—”

“No! You can’t do that here! There is a time and a place and here and now isn't it!”

“Are you sure? Because I’ve been watching this TV show about doctors and I’m pretty sure it’s okay.”

She rounded on him for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. “No! I am trying to help you fit in and you keep messing it up!”

“Look,” he raised his voice at her causing the people in the hallway they had turned into to stare. “I’m trying hard to be Mike, okay? But it’s not as easy as you make it sound. I’m used to doing my own thing.”

“Well tough shit,” she hissed back at him. “You can’t do your own thing here. You do my thing. Alright? That was the agreement you made with me and the agreement you made with the DEO.”

“And what if I don’t want to do your thing or the DEO’s thing anymore?”

“Then find another mentor! And goodluck with that!” 

****

“You mean you just left him out there? Alone?” J’onn had his hands on his hips. His fatherly scolding always made her recoil. 

“I can’t do it,” Kara retorted. “I tried, but he doesn’t listen to me. He needs to be trained in human customs before he goes back out again.”

“So you just left him at CatCo?” 

Kara shook her head. “He’s downstairs. I almost had to drag him here but I got him back.”

J’onn let out a breath of relief. “I don’t trust him. And I don’t trust you when you’re in this condition to take care of him. Figure out how to get him under control or he has to stay put in the DEO.”

“I’m sorry, I thought I could handle it.”

He softened. “You take on too much. You can’t solve all the problems in the world, you know?”

“I’m trying.” She nodded, trying to convince him and herself that she could manage all of this.

“Let us take on some of the burden. Winn seems to get through to Mon-El. Have him tutor him some more before you take him back out. ”

She nodded again.

“Kara?” Alex was standing at the door. Her and J’onn had agreed that they would need to push Kara to get this stone and message figured out. Although the stone didn’t respond to J’onn it made him severely uncomfortable. He was prone to headaches and nausea when he was in the same room with them, not to the degree as Kara but enough he wanted to avoid them. Alex, therefore, was running point of this current project and J’onn wanted it figured out and contained as soon as possible. But she was weary to push Kara too much when the stone had such an adverse effect on her. “You want to do this after a day like today?”

Kara sighed at the sight of Alex, and Winn standing behind her tablet in one hand and a bottle of the green ginger ale concoction. She had nearly forgotten about the stone and that she needed to get scanned once more after dealing with Mon-El. “Yeah.”

“Good. Let’s get this over with.”

Something in Alex’s tone made Kara think back to James’s words about how seeing someone you care about suffer was just as painful. As she followed Alex and Winn, she took Alex’s hand and squeezed. Alex didn’t say anything, didn’t even react other than the small smile that crept at the side of her lips.

Down in their examination room, Kara steeled herself. She stared down on the stone in the center of the room. Winn had built it a pedestal of sorts which irritated her to some degree. It was a place of honor as if it held all the answers for her. When she asked Winn why he made such an ornate stand he had shrugged and said, “I’m not sure. It just felt right. It feels important.”

Maybe it was important. Maybe if she thought about it as such rather than something that hurt her she wouldn’t be as susceptible to it. 

She took a deep breath and stretched out her hand toward the stone. Her stomach was already flipping in anticipation of what she knew was to come. She took one last gulp of untainted air as the orange mist started to cloud her eyes.

************************************************************************************

The front door opened like a maitre d’ beckoning her forward. Its creak assured her that she was home and safe in her space. Very little light spilled into the apartment. The dread of her upcoming workday and nervousness about bringing Mon-El into the world distracted her usual morning routine of reading the morning news on CatCo’s app, enjoying a hearty breakfast, and opening her curtains to watch the city around her wake up. Not that she had enjoyed the routine since the attack and the discovery of the stone.

She stood there for a moment after the door had shut behind her, staring into the darkness. For the thousandth time since she left the presence of the stone she had to push away images of a crumbling Krypton and the sneer on her mother’s face. 

_“You’re too late.”_

She sighed and dropped her purse on the island, not bothering to turn on any lights. Tonight she wanted to hide. No more prodding about the stone or Krypton’s history, no more being the center of attention, and no more looks from those at the DEO. Now that Winn had finished his scans they were starting to analyze the stone and its mysterious visions and message full force. They, meaning Alex and Winn, had taken advantage of the fact that Winn’s little green cococation made her symptoms lessen. In their excitement to be done and to have a starting place in finding answers, they hounded her during her sunlamp treatment and for two hours after about everything they could. She knew they weren’t doing it to be overbearing but it had been too much on her. They may have found a solution to her physical symptoms but nothing had been done about her mental and emotional ones. It wasn’t their fault. She hadn’t told them about the hauntings she carried with her after she left them and the stone. 

And she didn’t know if she would tell them. She didn’t know if it was her perception or if those at the DEO were really starting to lose their understanding of her situation. Poor Supergirl and her lost world and her dead parents. How many times would that be the driving force for their missions and trouble?

She wondered if she would always remember those events, if they would always be at the forefront of her character. Would some part of her always remember the sound of her pod’s door as it sealed shut? Or the look on her parents face just before she was launched off Krypton? Would these events always be the cornerstone of her character?

In the darkness of the apartment and being lost in her thoughts she didn’t notice the mess that had built up in the kitchen or the clothes that were thrown at the hamper rather than into it. She wasn’t normally a messy person but she couldn’t find the will to follow her usual habits. She could barely make herself eat. Or sleep. Or do anything other than be lost in her agony. 

She dropped to her knees at the foot of the bed and swiped her arm back and forth searching underneath for the handle she knew should be there. When her hand made contact she had to make some effort to pull the safe to her. It wasn’t heavy but the emotional toll of the past few days drained the motivation to use her powers. She fumbled with the lock and had to swallow the urge not to break it open in frustration. 

With it open on her lap, she lifted out the hologram projector Alex had brought her right after she had revealed herself to the world as Supergirl. She turned it over as her fingers traced the Kryptonese writing engraved along the canister. Using the safe, she propped the canister up and hit the button to transmit. 

“Kara, my brave daughter.” Alura’s voice filled the space and her hologram smiled at her, a stark contrast to the Alura featured in the stone vision. “By now you have become the woman I knew you would grow up to be. And though you were sent to Earth to protect young Kal-El, your destiny is not tied to his. There is no correct path in life. You will lose your way many times. What’s important is that you find your way back to the brave girl you always were. Be wise. Be strong. And always be true to yourself.”

Her mother’s words hung in the air but in a fading echo. She pressed the hologram projector again and her mother materialized in front of her once more. Her apartment was bathed in a cool blue hue. Alura’s words repeated. Then the apartment was thrown back into darkness and silence as the message ended again. 

She played it over and over for hours. It normally was one of her favorite rituals and it comforted her when her heart ached for Krypton and the love of a mother and father who was fading further out of her memory. But since finding the stone and seeing her mother in the orange tinted visions it did nothing but make her feel confused and worse, inadequate. Was she the woman she was supposed to be? Was she wise, strong, and brave? She didn’t feel like she was any of those things. Yet she couldn’t stop watching even though it broke her heart a little more each time it played.

At some point she had curled into the fetal position, holding a pillow she had pulled off her bed, watching Alura loom above her. She started when Alex’s face appeared in front of her own. 

“Hey, you haven’t been answering your phone. And I knocked like a hundred times.” 

Kara sat up. She hadn’t heard the buzzing of her phone as she watched her mother’s message on repeat, or the persistent knocking at her door. She was disoriented and confused for a brief moment before focusing on Alex and her words, letting the last instance of her mother’s words be drowned by Alex’s voice. “Sorry.”

Alex helped her to her feet with some difficulty. This was not the first time nor would it probably be the last. Kara may be her superhero little sister but she was harboring so much pain and sorrow beneath the surface, and worse yet had a great deal of responsibility weighing her down. It was no wonder she wasn’t completely crushed between the two. 

“What’s all this about?” Alex asked as she steered Kara into a stool at the island. She turned on the kitchen lights causing Kara to hiss in protest and shield her eyes. “You ran out of the DEO earlier and then ignored us all. We can’t help you if you won’t let us.”

Kara took her phone out of her purse. She had twenty-six missed calls and twice that number in text messages, most from Alex but some from their friends too. She smiled when she saw Lena’s text but she was too deep in her sallow mood to bounce back completely.

“I just needed some time,” Kara finally supplied.

Alex gave her a concerned look as she started to wash the pile of dirty dishes. After she had it down to a manageable heap she turned back, weighing her next words. “I know things have been... triggering. The stone, the vision, the creepy message. But we have to figure out what is happening and you’re the only person that can interact with it.”

Kara slumped down onto the island. “Am I being ridiculous? Is me being triggered still a legitimate excuse?”

“It’s not an excuse, and yes your feelings and experiences are legitimate and valid. Why would you think that they weren’t?”

“I don’t know. People are probably just tired of me using Krypton as an excuse.” She let her gaze finally take in the mess of her apartment. She really had let herself go the past few days. 

Alex moved so that she could catch Kara’s eyes. “No one is upset with you that you have these experiences and that they affect you. If anything it’s the opposite. We’re worried about you.”

“‘Oh, there is Supergirl crying about her dead parents and dead world...again.’”

“Who said that? I’ll knock out anyone who did.”

“No one. Not to my face at least.”

“Kara, you’re the only one putting pressure on yourself to get over all of that. It was a major event in your life and it’s not exactly like you were too young to remember it. Then coming to Earth and having to relearn life…”

“Not being there for Kal like I was supposed to.”

“That too. You then go and become Supergirl, start a new career path - anyone would be overwhelmed and be having a hard time.”

Kara nodded as if she accepted this but even she knew that below the surface she still wasn’t reassured.

“I really wish you would consider seeing someone.”

“Oh, that’ll make things better. Let’s just tell a stranger that I’m Kara Danvers and Supergirl. Sounds safe. Isn’t that what you said about me telling Lena?”

Alex rolled her eyes. “That’s different. The DEO already has therapists. Telling a Luthor the identity of a Super is a completely different story.”

Kara didn’t respond. She finally noticed the bag of dumplings sitting on top of the pizza box next to Alex’s bag. She reached in and grabbed a dumpling and nibbled on it, lost in thought. 

“Even the restaurant owners are worried about you. Both places asked me if you were okay because they hadn’t seen you in a few days.” Alex lifted the pizza box high enough to sneak her hand in and slide a piece out.

After a quiet moment of eating she asked the question that was eating at her. “Am I the woman I’m supposed to be? Am I wise, strong, and brave?”

Alex put her pizza down and wiped the corner of her mouth as she evaluated Kara’s face. “You’re very smart - smarter than me at many things. And you are strong and brave. How many people rush into danger and save everyone?”

“I’m only ‘smarter’ because Krypton was more advanced. And more people would do it if they were bullet proof and could fly.”

“Stop that. Stop degrading yourself and your abilities. You’re freaking Supergirl! You’re a hero! You’re using your situation to help keep an entire planet safe.” She tucked a loose blonde strand behind her sister’s ear. “Whether or not you are the exact person your parents thought you would be, you have still made them proud. Mom is proud of you. And dad would be too. I’m proud of you.”

Kara’s face softened. She was amazed by the love her sister had for her. It hadn’t always been easy for them but no matter what Alex was there for her time and again. “I just feel like I’m not living up to my potential, like I’m making the wrong decision at every turn. I feel split between Kara and Supergirl and that neither is getting their fair share.”

“You’re trying to be two people at once. I think that is to be expected, Kara.”

“But I want to be Kara Zor-El. A blend of both. I want to save the world but come home to someone who understands and loves me for who I am. I want a job where I’m also doing some good in the world but don’t have to worry about being Supergirl. I want to be—” She gestured into the air as if it held the answers. 

“You want to be normal.” Alex supplied for her. This conversation wasn’t new but she knew they were about to go over it again. And a redo of this conversation called for beer. “This is what normal looks like: job stress, exes and dating woes, balancing between your different selves - yes we mortals do it too - and buying too much food... why do you have all of this in here?” Alex jumped back from the refrigerator as produce scattered onto the floor. “Not sleeping?”

Kara huffed in response. If beating the crap out of dummies in the DEO training room wasn’t an option then midnight grocery shopping was her therapy. And she had been wanting to avoid the DEO more. Just being near the stone made her uneasy. And then there was Mon-El.

“I didn’t realize you were so...I don’t know...affected? Upset? Because of all of this. I knew seeing Krypton wasn’t pleasant for you but I haven’t seen you like this in a long time.”

“I feel lost. I feel like I’m making the wrong decision every single time.” She repeated. “Why can’t I ever get anything right?”

“You get a lot right, I promise. Things just aren’t as smooth as we’d like.”

“I’m messing up at CatCo, then all of this stuff with the stupid stone. And then damn Mark!”

Alex was confused. “Who’s Mark?”

“Mark...I mean Mike. Rao! Mon-El! He almost got fired today.”

Alex tried not to laugh at how flustered Kara was over the guy but it was a tad funny.

“He doesn’t take his job seriously,” Kara continued, oblivious to Alex’s take on the situation. “It’s like he hasn’t worked a day in his entire life!”

“I mean he is from a different planet. Surely you can sympathize with him. Plus, he’s coming here as an adult. You were young enough when you got here that we could fold you in a little easier.”

“That makes it worse! I had to come to a new planet _and_ deal with the awkwardness of seventh grade!” 

This time Alex’s laughter at her was obvious. 

“It’s not funny! I helped him get a new identity. I helped him get an internship. I even got him a new pair of glasses for a disguise in case he wants to put on a cape and help people the way I do. He has everything he needs and yet he’s still a disaster!”

“Well that’s the problem,” Alex said as if the answer was so obvious that she shouldn’t have to point it out. “Do you remember when you first arrived at our house? I thought ‘finally I have a sister’.”

“...an alien sister…”

Alex kissed the top of her sister’s head before picking up her beer bottle again. “Even better.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

“And I wanted you to be just like me,” Alex continued. “To do everything that I did. So I dragged you out to science fairs—”

“Those were so boring…”

“Made you watch scary movies—”

“What do you have against a good ‘ole romantic comedy?!”

“Forced you to listen to music I liked—”

“Yeah, your punk rock phase was very strange…”

“But I had to let it go. I had to let you do your own thing. Let you find your own hobbies. Listen to your own weird music.”

Kara rolled her eyes. “N*SYNC is not weird!”

Alex rolled her eyes dramatically right back. “Okay...But Mon-El is not you. So what works for you might not work for him. People have to figure out what works for them. Who they are on the inside, what they’re meant to be.”

Kara sighed in defeat. 

“You’re struggling enough about your own identity, about your own life. Controlling Mon-El’s for him isn’t going to make that go away.”

“I’m just trying to keep him in line with what we all agreed to. For his safety, for the safety and security of the DEO—”

“Yes, but there may be other ways to accomplish that other than this way.”

“You’re right.” Kara’s throat tightened and she could feel the emotions start to crash out. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

Kara’s phone buzzed. She picked it up reluctantly until she saw that it was a message from Lena. 

_Lena: Hey, I haven’t heard from you in a bit. Maggie says everyone is having a hard time reaching you. Are you okay? Is there something I can do?_

Kara smiled despite the tears that were building at the brim of her eyes. She’d give anything to crawl into Lena’s arms and rest for just an hour. 

_Kara: I’m okay. Sorry, I’ve had a rough couple of days. Alex is with me now so don’t worry._

The ellipsis of a forthcoming message appeared instantly. 

_Lena: I always worry about you. Please let me know if I can do anything, day or night._

_Kara: I will <3_

She debated whether the heart was a good idea or not. But the message was already delivered so she put her phone down and turned back to Alex who was watching her closely. 

“I take it you haven’t ‘shut it down’?” She didn’t even have to ask who the text was from. Kara’s face said it all.

That was the final straw. She felt the tears breach her eyelids and start rolling down her cheek. Everything was so messed up. She felt like there was no way out.

“Hey, hey, hey.” Alex rushed around the island and took her into her arms. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like...I don’t know.”

Kara sniffled and buried her head closer into her sister’s shoulder. “Alex, I love her. I don’t want to lose her.”

Alex sighed in resignation. “I know, sweetheart. I know.” She kissed the top of Kara’s head again and tried to let all her worry and anxiety about the situation leave her so she could be there like the big sister she was supposed to be. “Let’s talk about it. Tomorrow, though. After you get some sleep.”

Kara pulled back, hope written all of her face. “Are you serious?”

“Yes.” She framed the blonde’s face and smiled down at her. She didn’t want to be hypocritical. Her own words about Kara and Mon-El were still fresh. “Maybe there is another way. Maybe we can figure out how to keep you safe while letting Lena in. But if we’re going to do this we have to do it right and under specific conditions, okay? J’onn is going to be pissed either way.”

“Alex! You promise?”

“I promise. But we have a ton on our plate with this damn stone and message so I need you to help me. I know it’s hard—”

“You’re right, I know. I’m sorry I’ve been a pain.”

“You haven’t been a pain. This is frustrating for all of us but especially for you. Let’s figure this stuff out and we’ll figure out what we’re going to do with you and Lena too, alright?”

Kara beamed. The tasks ahead were still daunting and she still felt inadequate and drained but the thought of Lena at the end of the darkness was enough to make her lungs take a full breath of air. “Deal.”

“Let’s get you to bed. I told Maggie I was staying over here. I think she’s happy to have the bed to herself tonight.” 

“Well, you are a bed hog.” 

Alex didn’t respond as she shed her sweater and stepped on the heel of each shoe to pull her foot out of each. She cracked her neck as she made her way to Kara’s bed. “This place looks and smells like a frat house on a Sunday morning by the way.”

Kara rolled her eyes at the ridiculousness of her sister. She stacked two pieces of pizza and then arranged several dumplings on top of the stack before she followed, not seeing her own ridiculousness in this action. 


	3. Chapter 3

Kara staggered through the darkness. Somehow, as the pure blackness played tricks on her mind, as her body felt the steady vibration of the pod underneath her, as the stale yet sterile smell of the air pumping through the ventilation system met her nostrils, she knew that it wasn’t real. She was not in her pod. She was not in the Phantom Zone. Though it felt like she couldn’t remember anything of her life on Earth, a small pinprick of a bother was toying at the back of her mind telling her this was an illusion. 

_ “An unlikely marriage, a pairing of second chances, can save them.” _

She jerked her head back and forth though she knew she wouldn’t see anything. She couldn’t help but look for  _ that voice _ . It had plagued her dreams and her thoughts for days. And that’s when it clicked. 

This wasn’t real. 

She remembered Kara Danvers. She remembered the street and the orange mist from the first time she heard the voice. She remembered Alex and Winn at the DEO pulling her up off the floor after subjecting herself to the strange stone again and again. What was once a grain of truth hiding from her in the darkness now blossomed into a bright realization like a train coming out of a tunnel. 

This wasn’t real. 

_ “This duo, once forbidden by family, will create a blood dynasty of their own.” _

With a deep breath she focused on the words. These would be important later. If she could remember it now then maybe later on she wouldn’t have to put herself back into this vision like she did the last time. 

It was easier for her to take in the words this time. Not only was she prepared and not as frightened, but there was no sickness. Though she felt uneasy in the darkness that had initially brought back the anxiety and despair of being alone floating through space, she was comforted knowing that eventually the voice would stop and Earth, her world, would return to her. 

_ “They will be an unstoppable force and save not one but many worlds.” _

Last time the voice menaced its words. As she dialed into the message, letting the imaginary sensation of the vibrating pod go, she noted that the voice had an informative sway like being lectured to by a professor. There was a sense of urgency but the words were delivered evenly, spaced out as if this message had been prepared and practiced ad nauseam. 

The sensation of the pod would not let itself go unnoticed, however. Her body started to feel like she was bucking severely as the previous light vibrations became violent.  _ It’s not real _ . She repeated it over and over. She stumbled, another indication that she was in fact not in her pod but standing up. A deafening rumble stormed her ears but then, clear as day, the voice spoke once more. 

_ “Only together will they succeed, only together will they rise.” _

The last syllable hung in the air over the rumbling for a second and then reality washed over her. She was standing in her apartment. It was dark. Before her eyes adjusted, she heard a lamp topple over. It was only then that she realized everything was still moving in a violent quiver. 

Earthquake. 

She flung open the door and flew down the stairs, scanning other apartments as she went in search of anyone who needed her help. It looked as if everyone was taking proper precautions and seemed to be hunkered down safely. She thanked Rao that this time the message experience had not made her sick so that she could act quickly to anyone in need. 

On the street she found no one. Though trash cans were tipping over and loose hanging objects from buildings were crashing down, this event was less violent than the last. Another moment passed and the rumbling stopped leaving only the incessant beeping of car alarms. 

It must be late, she thought. She looked down and saw herself in pajamas. And as she observed her street for damage she saw many sleepy faces looking out of windows. A couple of the guys that lived in the building across the street came out to inspect the block as well. They were in varied states of undress for sleep. After a short conference and laughing at one another’s underwear they headed back inside. 

The air felt light. There was little damage. Everything now seemed normal. 

She squinted her eyes. It was suspicious. 

As she turned to go back into her building, a shimmer caught her eye. Catty corner from her building, a little down the block where two buildings were split by an alleyway, a gray mist hung in the air.  _ It was him again _ .

She went to step off the curb but nearly collided into Alex and her motorcycle as she pulled up alongside the sidewalk. She hadn’t even heard the grumbling of Alex’s bike approach.

“Whoa!” She heard Alex’s muffled shout from beneath her helmet. 

Her eyes had only left the mist for a second but it was gone when they darted back to the alleyway. She grunted in frustration at Alex and jogged around the bike and across the street. She heard Alex call after her but she ignored it. She was determined this time. She wasn’t letting anyone stop her from pursuing  _ him _ . She grabbed the corner of the building a little too hard as she spun herself into the alley where the mist had been. She felt some of the brick break away into her hand and told herself to be smart about this. But the need for satisfying her curiosity was overwhelming. 

The alley was empty. No person and especially no mysterious bearded old man. No mist. Not even a stray cat. 

“What are you doing?” Alex hissed from behind her. She had followed in pursuit, her side weapon drawn and pointed at the ground. 

Kara sighed in disappointment. “Nothing. It’s nothing.”

“Winn said the earthquake had the same signature reading as the attack the other day so I came as quickly as I could. Doesn’t look like it was an attack like last time...”

Kara held up the stone that she had no recollection of getting but that she knew was in her hand before she opened her fist.

“Oh,” Alex said. “Are...are you okay? You’re not sick or anything?”

“No. This time was different.”

“Was there a message?”

“Yeah…” Kara took a couple more steps into the alley. She could have sworn she saw a shadowy figure at the end. 

************************************************************************************

“So we’ve had another attack? At least the public, and especially the news, thinks it was an earthquake.” J’onn was displeased with their progress. He had been pushing Kara, through Alex, to get an answer to the mysterious messages and stones. He joined them at the command center and evaluated their work on the screen. 

“This one didn’t have the same effect on me as last time, thankfully, but I still had an altered reality. I don’t trust myself around those stones,” Kara said. 

This stone, like the other, was the same color and shape. And it had strange glyphs like the other thought the symbols themselves were different.

“Keep the testing to your protected floor. I don’t want to risk anyone,” he blanched because he was worried about his own reaction to the odd stones, “or the DEO in case anything happens. Agent Schott? Do you have anything to add?”

Winn typed a couple of commands and brought up a scan of both stones. “Whatever they are they are both made from the same type of unknown stone. The glyphs don’t match any language that we know of in the universe.”

“Are we sure they’re alien? It’d be nice if this was some weird human cult and the FBI could handle it.” 

“I’m afraid it's not a cult,” Alex interjected. “When Kara touches the first stone and the mist starts to appear it gives off a very specific electronic signature. Whatever it is, it makes Kara sick and it makes you,” she gestured at J’onn, “uneasy.”

“Based on the electronic signature I’ve detected, I think it interferes with your psionic abilities,” Winn supplied.

“Winn has gone through and scanned for that same signature,” Alex picked up where Winn left off, “and it pops up randomly in time and location throughout our part of the known universe which of course is very small compared to the actual size of the universe.”

“Randomly in time?” Kara asked. “What do you mean by that?”

Winn answered. Him and Alex perfectly synchronous with one another in their presentation. “Using the quantum technology here at the DEO I manipulated multiverse coordinates and sent the scans to different places.”

“Wait, you made the scanner time travel?”

“It’s not really time travel but like space travel. I just open up a small hole to another universe, send the signal in, and let it come back through before closing up.”

“‘Just’,” Alex laughed. “So simple.”

  
J’onn was having none of it. He didn’t care what Winn did to complete the scan, he just wanted the results. “What did you find?” 

“This same signature pops up occasionally in our part of the known universe. And has even happened here on Earth. The last was the East Coast, near Metropolis several years ago.”

“When exactly?” Kara asked. That information made the hairs on the back of her neck rise. 

“About a year before your cousin and Lex Luthor got into it.”

“I don’t remember any reports of attacks or earthquakes then,” J’onn said. 

“That’s because there weren’t any.” Winn pulled up the U.S. Geological Survey. “No unexpected seismic activity in the area at the time of the signatures unlike the activity here through both attacks.”

Kara felt like there may be a pattern if they had more data. It couldn’t be a coincidence that it happened in that location around that time with Kal-El. “Did you scan all of Earth’s history? When else did it happen?”

“Well, no. That would take a considerable amount of time and most of the scans came back negative.”

“But there could be more instances here on Earth?”

“Theoretically, yes. But again it would take a considerable amount of time to conduct the scans. And I was also looking beyond our solar system. I’ve found four instances thus far across time and across our known part of the universe. So the signature from whatever this stone is has happened before and happens other places.” 

Still convinced there could be an underlying pattern Kara asked for more. “Show me.”

Winn tapped on his tablet and nothing happened. He turned it over looking for something wrong and then tried again. Nothing. He sat at one of the command center’s workstations and tried there. All of the monitors suddenly snowed with static. The agents working on them looked around and then to him for an answer.

“Um, I don’t have control of anything. Some sort of outside interference.”

The monitors continued to show static and then there was a crackle of sound before the command center was filled with a sinister voice. 

“You were warned. The alien invaders are dangerous.”

The monitors now showed the destruction outside of the National City Trust Bank. The orange dome with Supergirl in the middle was dramatically edited to appear like the depths of hell. 

“Their intent is malicious. They have technology and powers that could destroy all those who rightfully belong to Earth.” 

Images of Supergirl’s failures and other alien attacks. Bizzaro as Superman turning on Metropolis. News coverage of last night’s earthquake but it was primed with pictures of aliens laughing and scheming. 

“We should not be opening our arms to them but locking them up and protecting ourselves. The government has not listened to us.” 

This time governmental atrocities of war, trials of treason, and evidence of greed flashed across the screens. 

“And because of that they will make you pay with your blood and the blood of your children. We come to you now to ensure the safety of our planet. We are Cadmus.”

The message ended and all the monitors returned to normal. 

“Well, that’s going to complicate things,” Winn grimaced. 

Alex rubbed her temples. Cadmus had just fucked them right over. “They’re making assumptions that the attack outside of the bank was alien—”

“And they could be right if what you all are saying is true about this happening in other places in our galaxy.” J’onn shook his head. “If we’re only now finding this out now how could they already know?”

“Sir?” An agent rushed forward with a phone, his hand over the speaker. “It’s the President.”

He looked at them all with exasperation. “Get me some answers!”

************************************************************************************

“That meeting went well,” James turned to Kara with heavy eyes. “Thanks for backing me up in there.”

It had been almost forty-eight hours since the new so-called Cadmus group had taken control of the airways of National City and issued their threats. In the time since the message, flyers and billboards were popping up repeating the message. People were starting to protest outside City Hall and the police precincts calling for an end to assimilation of aliens into Earth’s population. And it wasn’t just protestors and people set on stirring up drama. Half of the newsroom this morning seemed to be on the side of Cadmus. 

“I can’t believe they were saying those things! How do people trust Cadmus so easily?” She glared at the reporter who had pushed a bunch of alien conspiracy theories on their morning news meeting. She never liked him before but his pro-Cadmus rant this morning made the dislike for him double. “Do people not think for themselves anymore?”

“It’s a scary time. Was the earthquake really another attack?”

“No one was targeted and no one was hurt so I’d hardly call it an attack. It was just...an experience for me.”

“An experience?”

“I don’t know what else to call it. Winn says the same electronic signature that happens when I have these experiences has happened on Earth before but as far as we can tell it didn’t lead to earthquakes and ‘attacks’,” she lowered her voice and looked around to make sure the others in the newsroom weren’t paying attention. “We’ve never seen alien stones like this, though. Krypton didn’t even have this phenomenon from what I can recall. And Cadmus doesn’t care who gets hurt or the damage they do to the reputation of the aliens here on Earth by spouting their lies. If the DEO doesn’t even know what’s going on I highly doubt that they do. This may be an alien event but I don’t get the sense that it’s an attack on humans.” 

“I’m sure you and the DEO will get it figured out,” he said in sad defeat.

Kara grabbed his arm to stop him. “Hey, what is that supposed to mean?”

“I’m sorry. I just feel like there’s not a lot of help I can do from behind Cat’s desk.”

“You are helping. It’s important that you’re putting out the truth—”

Someone slammed right into her. Unfortunately for them, a Kryptonian was like a brick wall. The person fell backwards into the nearby desk, nearly toppling a hefty stack of files. 

“Eve! Are you alright? Let me help you with those.” Kara started toward the struggling assistant. “Jeez, James, are you turning into Ms. Grant? How much work did you give her?”

“I didn’t give her anything,” he defended. He started to scoop up the papers and files that had fallen from the giant stack. He looked down at one of the sheets. “These are the quarterly reports that I asked  _ Mike _ to handle.”

“Oh, for Rao’s sake,” Kara hissed under her breath.

Eve had stabilized herself and turned to Kara. They hadn’t spoken directly to one another since the copy room incident. She tried to put on a brave smile, as if nothing in the world was wrong between them. “He’s been really struggling, I mean he’s still new and trying to learn. I just wanted to help him out a bit.”

Kara couldn’t tell whether she or James was more upset at the situation.

“Do you want to get this or shall I?” James menaced. 

“Oh, I want to!”

She stomped to the corner of the newsroom, trying to get her anger under control. She thought she may have dented the floor on one of her steps so she needed to get it together. But what she found only made her anger skyrocket. 

Mon-El was leaning back in his chair, feet up on his desk without a care in the world. There were crumbs and wrappers all over the place. The tub of Twizzlers that Kara had bought at CostCo for the entire office to share was sat in the middle of his desk as if it was his own. 

“What are you doing?!”

“Eating these red tubes. They are amazing! Like pure joy in food form.”

The fact that he couldn’t discern her anger from her tone or body language made her want to shake him. He was always so nonchalant about everything and it drove her mad. She took the Twizzler away from him and pointed it back into his face like a limp sword. 

“How many times do we have to go over this? There is a time and a place—”

“You know, I’m getting real sick of hearing this speech.”

“Then listen to me! This is your place of work. When James,  _ your boss _ , gives you a task you do it! You don’t have someone else do it and you especially don’t have Eve do it!”

“She wanted to please me,” he spoke slow in a mocking tone, as if she was illiterate. “On Daxam when a woman wishes to please—”

“Nope, stop! Wherever you’re going with that, just don’t. We are not on Daxam, thank Rao.”

He brought his feet off the desk and stood in her face. His normally boyish looks were suddenly harsh with anger. “Is there a list of rules of the right time and place for everything I want to do?”

“I hope I’m not interrupting…,” a soft voice came from behind them. 

Kara whipped around and came face to face with Lena. In an instant, most of the anger melted and she couldn’t help the smile that blossomed over her face. “Lena! Surprise visit to CatCo?”

Kara could see that Lena was trying to figure out whether her and Mon-El had been really arguing. She looked like she was fighting back the cold, stern Luthor executive, and Kara melted even more at that. Though sweet, in a way it was funny how much Lena tried to protect Kara when Kara was essentially indestructible. 

“No, I came to see you actually.”

“Me?” Kara blushed. 

“L-Corp is having a party this weekend. It’s a gala fundraiser to help the businesses that have been hurt by these events.”

Mon-El perked up. Here were two of his favorite things: a beautiful woman and the promise of a social event. “Gala? Is that like a party?”

“No, no it’s not.” Kara put her hand on the file cabinet, blocking Mon-El from getting even closer to Lena. She was two seconds away from ripping his sultry eyes out for looking at Lena the way he was. Kara was pleased, however, that Lena’s full attention was on her and not on Mon-El. 

“You are literally my only close friend in National City. You and your friends have been so nice to me. Most people wouldn’t touch a Luthor with a ten foot pole.” Lena bit her lip and it took everything for Kara not to pull her forward and let her bite her own lip instead. “It would mean a lot to me if you were there.”

“Of course, I’ll come.” She reached out and took Lena’s hand. “I’m honored.” 

“I love parties,” Mon-El interjected. “Could I come too?”

“No.” Kara side-eyed him and then looked back at Lena, hoping that Lena at least understood her expression as an apology for Mon-El’s behavior. “Don’t be rude and invite yourself,” she nervously laughed.

“Oh...um...of course your friend…,” this label was said in the form of a question to Kara, “...can come. Who are you exactly?”

“Mike,” he replied as he squared his shoulders and made sure to show his pearly white teeth. “Of the interns,” he informed her, voice as thick as honey and just as sickly sweet.

Kara groaned and shook her head in vicarious embarrassment. 

“Well, Mike of the Interns,” Lena caught Kara’s eye with that knowing look that passes between two women when a man has made things awkward, “find yourself a nice suit and I’ll see you there. Bye, Kara.”

Kara’s eyes followed Lena to the elevator, lost in the thought of how she’d do anything to make Lena happy. That woman did things to her no one else on Earth had done. No one calmed her yet made her feel so intensely. 

“We’re going to a party!” Mon-El playfully shoulder bumped her, the scolding he had been getting before Lena’s interruption a distant memory now. He waved a newly grabbed Twizzler in her face in celebration. 

She grabbed it and the tub of Twizzlers and told him to get back to work.

************************************************************************************

Kara threw herself down into the chair at the island. She let her head thump down on the counter and groaned. “I don’t know what any of this means!”

“Let’s go over it again.” Alex was doing her usual pacing, a beer in one hand and the other on her hip. 

All she got in response was a long groan.

“You know this is the way I work. Say it again.”

Kara sighed. “‘An unlikely marriage, a pairing of second chances, can save them. This duo, once forbidden by family, will create a dynasty of their own. They will be an unstoppable force and save not one but many worlds. Only together will they succeed, only together will they rise.’”

“And you’re sure this is the right wording?”

“Yes, Alex! I told you, this time I didn’t feel as sick and could focus better. Winn and I used the stone to let me experience the message again and I was right the first time.”

“This one is different. The last one was talking about something that happened in the past. This one seems to be more about going into the future.”

“We don’t even know what the first message means. How are we going to figure out the second one?”

“Then let’s go back to the first one again.”

Kara raised her head. She knew all of this by heart and it plagued her thoughts constantly. “‘The first hero turned against its beloved, submitting to the monsters of jealousy, greed, and pride. Those once protected now suffer at the lost hero’s hands. Their demise will be the demise of all.’”

Alex stopped and took a swig of her beer. “Who is the first hero?”

“I don’t know but it can’t be me. Kal was here before me.”

“So maybe Superman…”

“Kal never turned against anyone and he’s never hurt anyone. Except for the bad guys but even then he’s always protected and tried to keep the peace.”

“Okay, not Kal.” Alex went to the fridge and picked out another beer. “The first message is about the past — it’s already happened. The second message is about making up for it. Two people will unite and will apparently save everyone.”

“But who?”

“You’re getting the messages, could be you.”

Kara groaned again. “We don’t know that for sure.”

“True.” Alex paused for a moment. “Whoever it is, two people are required to save whatever mess this first hero has done.”

“Again, but who is it? Who are the two people who will save  _ many worlds _ ?”

There was a knock on the door. Kara lowered her glasses and looked through it. 

“What is she doing here?”

“Who?”

Kara rushed to the door and opened it. Standing on the other side was Lena. She was in a white skirt and blouse, a long and elegant brown peacoat completing the look. She was dressed for her work day but here she was in the middle of it rather than at L-Corp.

“Lena! What are you doing here?” Kara couldn’t stop smiling. “I mean, I’m so glad you’re here. Come in!”

“Thanks, I needed to talk—” she stopped when she saw Alex. “Oh, I’m sorry. Am I interrupting something?”

Alex cleared the island of all the DEO paperwork. “Not at all, I was just running something by Kara.”

“I can’t stay long.” She turned to Kara. “I need to ask you for a favor.”

“Anything! What’s up?”

“I was wondering if you could get me in touch with Supergirl?”

“Supergirl…,” Kara stuttered out. “Why do you need her?”

“I was hoping to ask her if she could come to the gala. You know, as protection.”

“Are you expecting danger? I thought it was a fundraiser?”

Lena chuckled. “I am a Luthor, afterall. I have learned from personal experience that it’s best to be prepared for any scenario especially when the rich are involved. And I’m sure it would make everyone feel safer with this Cadmus group threatening the masses.”

“I...sure!” Anything for Lena. 

Alex rolled her eyes at her. 

“Thank you! I don’t know what I’d do without you!”

“Okay bye,” Kara grimaced. When the door had shut and Lena was out of the hallway she groaned. “Dammit.”

“Now what are you going to do? Go as Kara or go as Supergirl?”

“I’ll have to figure out how to do both.” She bit her lip and tried to figure out how to pull it off. She may need to get someone like James or Winn to help out. “Should you be working on the Cadmus thing instead of these messages with me? I’ve been preoccupied. Is it serious?”

“It is getting serious. Cadmus is now claiming that even the most basic crimes are being done by aliens on top of the incidents where you’ve gotten these messages. It has a lot of people spooked. And we’re seeing more aliens being the subject of hate crimes.”

“We have to stop them.”

“ _ We _ will. You, on the other hand, need to figure out this.” She handed the files they had accumulated on the messages and the incidents. “There is nothing for Supergirl to do with Cadmus right now.”

************************************************************************************

Supergirl hovered just outside Lena’s office at LCorp. Though she felt like a creeper, this wasn’t the first time she had done this. Sometimes watching Lena work, knowing that she was safe, was the only thing that could soothe her from a stressful day. And with the so called attacks, hearing about Cadmus stirring up a public frenzy that she couldn’t fight, and dealing with Mon-El, her stress was at an all-time high. But tonight she was apprehensive. She had so far been successful in keeping Kara Danvers and Supergirl away from each other around Lena. Now Lena was asking them both to be at the gala. One more thing to stress about. 

Once she had built up her courage and put on her Supergirl air, she landed lightly on Lena’s balcony. Though she had done so as quietly as possible, Lena still spun in her chair, her face at first concerned but then it softened when she saw Supergirl. 

“Ms. Luthor, you really shouldn’t leave your door open like this. It could be dangerous,” she announced as she stepped into Lena’s office, hands on her hips and shoulders thrown back. 

Lena just beamed back at her ignoring the criticism. “Thank you for coming!”

“I hear you’re having a party? Do you think that is wise with everything that has been going on?”

“With you there then no one would really need to fear a thing, now would they?” Lena purred. 

Kara tried not to blush. Then she tried not to be jealous of herself. Kara Danvers was the only one who could flirt with Lena but yet here was Lena charming Supergirl. 

“You’re not afraid of anything, are you?”

“I’m a Luthor. No attack is worse than the things that go on in my family,” Lena laughed.

Supergirl hummed in agreement. She couldn’t begin to imagine life in the Luthor family. And it was that family and its dynamics that were at the central argument of Alex worrying about Kara and Lena starting a romantic relationship. Her and Alex had yet to continue that conversation because of everything that had transpired in the last week and a half but she was sure that Lena could be trusted and would accept her as Supergirl when the time came to tell her. 

“Ms. Luthor, may I ask you something personal?”

Lena seemed intrigued. She sat herself on the edge of the desk and motioned for Supergirl to have a seat. “I’ll make you a deal: I’ll answer anything you ask truthfully if you will do the same in return.”

Her heart plummeted. She couldn’t agree if she thought Lena would ask her who her human identity was. But the game Lena wanted to play required a sacrifice. If she trusted Lena, like she insisted to Alex she could and did, then she didn’t need to worry about it. The mere agreement to the deal was an indication of trust. “Deal.”

She was surprised at the shock on Lena’s face. She had caught her in a bluff and that made her wonder even more whether this was a good idea. 

“Well then, Supergirl. Ask away.”

“What is your opinion on the presence of aliens here on Earth?” 

“I didn’t have a normal childhood of sleepovers and girlish games, but I’m pretty sure this game wasn’t supposed to be so serious.” Kara watched  _ that eyebrow _ raise mischievously. “But to answer your question, I think that, like humans, there are good and bad aliens, and a mix in between. I believe that they can cohabitate with us and I believe they can make our world a better place. If you’re asking me that because you’re wondering if I’m anything like my mother or brother then I’m not. And I hope I’ve shown you that in my actions.”

“Your mother?” She hadn’t heard much about the Luthor matriarch. She had always imagined her as a socialite that played behind the scenes of the Luthor family.

“Yes. Good ‘ol mommy dearest. She instilled the fear of aliens in my brother. My father was more curious about aliens, but not fearful of them.”

“She didn’t pass on that fear to you?”

“Not for a lack of trying. Maybe one of the benefits of being adopted.”

This surprised her. Lena had not even revealed that to Kara yet. “You’re adopted?”

“I am. And that’s four questions I’ve answered for you by the way. You were only supposed to have one,” Lena said with a smirk. 

Supergirl blushed. “Sorry.”

“Now, it’s my turn.” Lena pushed herself away from her desk and sat next to her on the white couch. “What is your opinion of me since I’m a Luthor?”

Supergirl breathed a sigh of relief causing Lena to laugh. 

“Now, Supergirl, you didn’t think I’d really ask you  _ that _ .”

“It crossed my mind…”

“I hope that means I’ve passed your trust test.”

“What?” She was in shock that Lena had hit it so perfectly on the nose. “I...it’s just…”

Lena laughed at her again. “I understand. I’m still a Luthor and you’re a Super. Which brings me back to my question.”

“I think you’re one of the most honest and pure hearted people I’ve ever known.” Clearly Lena had not been expecting that. At first she looked appalled and then Supergirl realized it was a look of vulnerability. She quickly followed up with a “sorry” for causing this reaction in Lena. 

“You and Kara have that in common. Always apologizing when you don’t need to.”

Supergirl gulped.  _ Oh shit _ . 

“Maybe that’s one of the reasons why you two get along so well,” Lena concluded. 

“Yeah, maybe.”

“I...not many people describe me with positive words. I am shocked to hear them from you.”

“Lena…” It was the first time she could recall using Lena’s first name as Supergirl. It had its intended effect, though, as Lena blushed even further. “Everything I said was true as per your rule.”

“Thank you, Supergirl.” Lena cleared her throat and changed the topic. “So will you come to the gala?”

Supergirl knew she couldn’t say no. Even if she, as Supergirl, had enough reason to decline, Kara’s drive to satisfy Lena was too great for both their identities. “I will be there. But I insist you put in as many security precautions as possible.”

“Always.” Lena held her hand out for Supergirl to shake. “Kara and I will see you there!”


	4. Chapter 4

_ Alex: We need to talk. _

Kara groaned as she read the text message banner. When Alex said that it was never a good thing. Before she could reply, another message came through. She looked at her computer screen and around at the rest of the CatCo bullpen. She had to get this article finished before she could leave. Whatever Alex would say would throw off the rest of her day.

_ Alex: I’m on my way to your apartment. Meet me there ASAP. _

An hour later when Kara came up the stairs to her apartment she found Alex sitting on the floor outside her door. 

“What’s going on?”

“Did you go talk to Lena as Supergirl?” Alex asked as she stood and then followed Kara into the apartment. 

“I did. She insisted that Supergirl be there to make sure it is safe because of the attacks and the threat from Cadmus.”

Alex stopped. “She mentioned Cadmus directly?”

“Yeah, why? Alex what’s wrong.”

“Winn has discovered who is behind Cadmus…”

“Great! Let’s take them down.”

“...Lillian Luthor is their leader.”

Kara spun. “What? You mean...Lena’s mother?!”

“Yes.”

“Alex, I don’t...what does this mean?”

“It means that Lena could be in on it. Cadmus was...is...a Luthor front. Lex Luthor started it as a genetic engineering project but it eventually grew into the primary weapons division of LuthorCorp under him.”

“Lena would never be a part of something like that,” Kara insisted. “I know her, Alex. You know her! She is not like her family.”

“Kara, I don’t think Lena is a bad person. Really, I don’t. But this connection makes me uneasy especially about you and her. Cadmus is a division of LuthorCorp, now L-Corp. How could Lena not know about it?”

“I don’t believe it. Not after everything Lena has ever said and how she has been helping the alien community and working with Supergirl. No one is that good of an actor.”

“You are when it comes to hiding Supergirl.”

Kara rolled her eyes. “You promised that you’d help me figure this out. So now what?”

Alex’s shoulders sank. “I know but I don’t think I can keep that promise. You need to keep Lena at a distance until we get this figured out. You also need to keep in mind that even if Lena is innocent and doesn’t know anything about Cadmus that J’onn is going to be more wary of her because of this connection. I don’t know if we can make this work.”

“I’m still going to the gala. I’m still going to interact with Lena.”

“I figured you’d say that,” Alex huffed. She ran her fingers through her hair in defeat. She knew that there was no way to stop Kara from seeing Lena. “All I ask is to keep those feelings on hold until we can find out if and what Lena may know.”

****

Kara turned herself slowly, from side to side, making sure the dress was neither too revealing nor inappropriate. It was a soft, pastel blue. Cotton with a woven pattern that revealed her skin beneath but not enough to be noticeable. Alex had always told her blue was her color but this seemed a little dull. And innocent. She was sure Lena would be in something dazzling and sexy and she would look like a girl who showed up for her first coed birthday party standing next to her. But impressing Lena, though tempting, was not the point tonight. Keeping Lena and her guests safe was the main mission. Plus, Lena seemed to like her style of vibrant and cheerful colors anyway. 

She hurried out onto the sidewalk, double checking that she had everything she needed for an emergency turn into Supergirl. She started when a voice purred a question. “Can I offer you a ride?”

Kara’s stomach filled with butterflies before she even raised her eyes from her purse. And if the sound of that delicious voice wasn’t enough, the sight her eyes took in as they slowly scanned upward was enough to make her fly. Black high heels that led to toned legs which disappeared underneath a tight dark skirt and sleeveless blouse that showcased the curves she desperately wished she could run her hands over. The blouse was opened far down Lena’s chest revealing a beautiful jeweled necklace. The neck from which it hung was pale and flowed like marble. She was sure no artist in the world could sculpt something as perfect. 

“Fuck.”

Lena’s laughter filled the air. “Why, Ms. Danvers...I have never heard you use such language.”

“Only when the occasion calls for it.” She swallowed hard and tried to collect herself. “You are absolutely stunning, Lena.” 

She was glad Lena’s cheeks filled with redness and her eyes dropped. She wasn’t sure she could take much more of this electric banter without pulling Lena into her apartment and skipping the gala all together. And with the information from Alex about Cadmus she knew that that was the last thing she should do. 

“I figured you would have been at the gala already,” she continued. 

“Jess has everything under control. And I trust her completely. I’m sure when we get there things will be underway and perfectly fine.” Lena at last looked up at her and Kara was pleased to see that her previous thoughts of skipping the gala were reflecting back at her out of those green eyes that she felt like she could drown happily in. “So, could I interest you in a ride?”

“I’d love that.” 

Kara hummed at the spike in Lena’s heartbeat as she stepped into her space. The scent of her skin and her hair and the perfume that complimented Lena’s natural smell washed over her. She reached her arm around Lena as if she was going to pull her into her own body. Lena’s breath caught and their eyes locked. 

“After you, Ms. Luthor.” Kara’s hand found the door handle she had been in search of, and she was pleased that as she started to pull the door open it forced Lena even closer into her. She let this fact register with Lena but then stepped back quickly and offered the open door and her hand in a show of chivalry. 

Lena scoffed out a wryly “oh” as declaration that she was ready for this game they had started. 

Kara knew that by the smirk on Lena’s deep red lips and the fire in her eyes that no matter the outcome it was a win-win all the way around. 

****

The gala was in full swing as they arrived. Kara was not prepared for the sudden snaps of cameras and the lights as she stepped out of the limo. As a reporter she was accustomed to the frantic call outs of questions, the intensity of a huddled group of reporters, and photographers jockeying for the best position. But being their subject now, everyone’s focus delightfully on her and Lena, was foreign. Even as Supergirl she hadn’t experienced so much targeted attention. 

Lena, however, moved with ease. She was a Luthor and she had been born into this way of life. When reporters called out to her, brazeningly asking her what her relationship was with Kara, Lena simply laughed and kept pulling her along. A reporter asked Kara if she was there for CatCo or for pleasure and she stuttered out something that was unintelligible, a stark contrast to Lena’s coolness. 

When they reached the hotel doors, two ushers bowed their heads to Lena and pulled them open. As if the walk of the red carpet wasn’t enough to surprise her, the grandeur of the gala was breathtaking. Kara had entered the room alone as Lena went to the side to get a full report from Jess who was watching the gathering from the entryway. Lena had been right, though, Jess had everything clearly under control.

Kara had been in this room once before, recently in fact, for a conference on investigative journalism. During that event, the room, while vastly open and welcoming, was drab, conservative, and cookie cutter-esque — no different than any modern banquet hall. But now the room sparkled. Paintings and sculptures attracted many of the party goers and gave the space a less formal vibe. The terrace was impeccably adorned with flowers and shrubs. It too shone with glittery light strings and the fluorescent blue that underlit the circle bar in its middle. Waiters with hor d’evours gracefully flowed between the guests and an elegant buffet stretched the entire length of the back wall. 

If the room wasn’t impressive enough then the people who filled it more than made up for any lacking. National City’s most important socialites conversed with one another, creating a lively hum of excitement. Kara spotted the mayor of the city and governor of the state, and even a few politicians from nearby states. She spotted James talking with a senator and waved. A sharp witty insult from nearby meant Cat was back in town, perhaps just for this event. 

Her analysis ended with a warm hand at the small of her back. “So, what do you think?”

She turned to look at Lena who was beaming next to her. “It’s amazing. I had no idea they had renovated the hotel. I was just in here a couple of weeks ago.”

“I’ve been meaning to redo it anyway. What better time than for the gala?” She rolled her eyes at Kara’s questioning face. “I own this hotel.”

Kara laughed. “Of course you do.” 

“The Luthor family has a variety of holdings and businesses, Ms. Danvers. Surely you realize that by now,” Lena teased. 

“By Luthor family I assume that you mean just you, right? Your father is,” she gulped, “gone. Lex is in jail. So you are the one who is in charge of all those holdings?”

She was glad that Lena laughed at her stuttered assessment. “Pretty much. My mother also has a fair share of it.”

“Your mother? You don’t ever mention her.”

“Hmm. Mommy dearest. Her and I have never quite gotten along. Really only in forced family events and any time she needs me for business.”

Kara hummed in agreement as if she too knew what that life was like. She went quiet as she analyzed this information, trying to incorporate it with what Alex had said about Cadmus. 

Lena’s eyes had found someone that stopped the playfulness. She straightened her shoulders and tried to smooth out some nonexistent wrinkle in her skirt. “There’s Phillip. I need to go speak with him.”

“Who’s Phillip?”

“He’s the owner of AceaTech...the deal I’ve been working on.”

“Ah. So he’s the man that's been keeping you away from me!” She mocked being offended and was glad it caused Lena to laugh.

“If I’m being honest this is the most nervous I’ve been about a potential deal.”

“Why is that?”

Lena huffed and rolled her shoulders. It was so unlike her to be apprehensive and stressed over business. “I’m still trying to get out from under Lex’s bad business decisions. While I personally may have liquid funds, L-Corp as a company does not. In Lex’s bid to defeat Superman he threw all of LuthorCorp’s resources into technology and weapons. But we’re not at war. I inherited a great alien armory that no one is very interested in buying and a bank account nearing zero. If I am going to continue to change the reputation of L-Corp and push us into positive scientific advancement I need cash. This deal could give me enough to get us on the right path.”

“Well then, go get’em! You can do this Lena. There is no one better than you.”

Lena laughed, though nervously, at the cheer. She motioned a waiter over before she took her leave. “I’ll find you in a bit. Make sure you get some food.” 

Kara was presented with a platter of dumplings and with her first bite she knew they were from her favorite restaurant in the city. She quickly tugged on the sleeve of the waiter to bring the platter back around to her and took a few more. As she bit into another one her eyes met Lena’s across the room. Lena winked at her and continued on with her conversation with the man named Phillip. 

“Hey there, beautiful.” 

She froze and then slowly turned her head toward the sound of the voice. 

“Oh shit, it’s you,” Mon-El croaked out. “Sorry.”

“What are you doing here?” Kara barely got out, her mouth still full of dumplings. 

“Come again?” Mon-El looked at her in slight disgust. “I didn’t catch that.”

She chewed harder and then swallowed. “I said, what are you doing here?”

“I was invited, remember?”

“Where did you get the suit?” She had purposely not helped him find a suit thinking that not having one would deter him from trying to come. 

He smoothed his tie down and looked pleased with himself. “You like it? Eve gave me her plastic rectangle that buys things.”

“You used her credit card?!”

“Why are you always yelling at me?”

She took a deep breath and calmed herself. “You’re right. I’m sorry. But it’s not polite to use other people’s money. You need to make sure you pay her back.”

He nodded but changed the subject. He was watching the dance floor where people swayed to the music of the live band. “I’m glad to see they have dancing here. We danced all the time on Daxam.”

There was a longing in his voice, like he was coming to terms with the fact that whatever ghosts he was seeing belonged to a world that didn’t exist anymore. Kara chastised herself for being so hard on him. He had literally just found out he lost his world and everyone he knew, and here she was thrusting him into a new way of life on a new planet. 

“We did too on Krypton.” 

She remembered being very young, maybe four or five years old, and hiding under a table at a party her parents had thrown. It must have been to celebrate her mother’s promotion, it would have been the same time period. Kara knew she was supposed to have been in bed but she didn’t remember why or how she had snuck from her room down to the party. What she did remember was the dancing of the people at the party. Especially that of her parents. They swayed in sync, their bodies pressed close together. Her father had whispered something into her mother’s ear that caused her to laugh out loud before he dipped and spun her into their next position where they kissed deeply and clearly forgot those around them.

They were so happy and so in love. It was strange to her now with her Earthly upbringing that two people forced to marry one another could find such happiness. Their marriage had been one meant to tie blood lines together and was ordered for by their government. How had these two somehow found that type of love in something forced?

She could feel Mon-El staring at her. When she looked at him she saw a similarity that she hadn’t yet fully acknowledged. They were aliens, strangers to this world. And, no matter how human she made herself, she and Mon-El would be more alike than her and Alex, Lena, the people she protects, everyone here. 

“Would you dance with me?” He asked softly. Even he felt that something had transpired between the two of them at that moment. There was suddenly less hostility. 

“Sure.” 

She put down the dumplings on a small table and quickly wiped her hands. For all of his brashness and clumsiness with Earthly customs, Mon-El was neither in dancing. His form was proper, tightly conformed but not so rigid that he couldn’t portray the rhythm. After a moment she recognized the step pattern. 

“We had this dance on Krypton. I can’t believe I still remember the steps.”

He smiled at her. “You’re not so bad, Kryptonian.”

“You’re pretty good yourself, Daxamite.”

“Maybe we could go out sometime? Have a fling as the kids say.”

Luckily for her the song ended so she didn’t have to supply an answer. When they and the other dancers finished their appreciative applause to the band, they stood awkwardly in front of one another. 

“Mon-El, I should really apologize for how—”

“That hot woman from the other day is coming this way!” He announced gleefully. He straightened his jacket and smoothed his hair. “How do I look? Think she’ll dance with me?”

Kara’s shoulders drooped. So much for that moment of potential peacemaking. And so much for him asking her out though she’d never agree to it. 

“Mike of the Interns, you made it.” Lena smiled at them both but Kara could see there was a mild concern in her eyes. She slid her hand in Lena’s and gently squeezed, indicating there was nothing to worry about. 

“I did. Would you like to dance?”

Kara was shaking her head no, answering for Lena who thought the reaction was humorous. 

“I’m afraid I’ll have to take a rain check. Kara, I actually needed to speak to you for a moment. I was wondering if you’d heard from Supergirl?”

Mon-El scoffed. “Well of course she—” Kara’s look of death stopped him dead in his tracks. “She...she’s heard from Supergirl. We all know Supergirl only talks to the one and only Kara Danvers!”

Even Kara had to admit she was impressed with how he had recovered. 

“I’m sure she’s here, Lena. Probably keeping a safe perimeter and stuff.” Kara squeezed Lena’s hand again. 

Lena nodded, smiling brightly at Kara. She had eyes only for her. “You’re right.”

“So how about that dan—” Mon-El started. 

“Lena, dance with me?” Kara said quickly. She didn’t leave much time for Lena to respond as she pulled her away from Mon-El. Not that he was upset. They had barely gotten away from him before he turned to another woman and asked her. 

When Kara righted them and they took their first synchronized step, she met Lena’s eyes which she found to be timid. 

“Is this okay? We don’t have to…”

Lena flushed but pulled herself in closer to Kara. “This is perfect. Sorry, I’m a little flustered. I’m usually a better dancer than this.”

“You could be the worst dancer in the universe and I would still want to dance with you.”

“Do you really mean that?”

“With all my heart.”

Kara was thankful this song was a slower one. She got to enjoy the feel of Lena in her arms. And after a minute, Lena relaxed and responded more to her touch and the music. Though it was a slower song, it was sultry and kept them moving. Kara let her eyes roam Lena’s neck and shoulders. All she wanted to do was kiss them, pull down the blouse and explore every inch with her tongue and lips. Lena’s fingertips tightly gripped at her back and hip and she wondered whether they would deliciously scratch into her if she dared to lower her mouth to the marble skin. 

They were so lost in one another that everything in the room except for the music seemed to disappear. When Kara let her hand leave Lena’s waist and brought it up to cup her face, their feet stopped. The only thing that moved were their respective chests as they heaved in the air of the moment. Kara took the tip of her nose and gently ran it along Lena’s nose tip. She licked her lips and pressed forward. But her stomach clenched, and not in a good way. 

“Do you feel that?” Kara whispered. 

“I feel a lot of things right now, Kara. You’re going to have to be more specific,” Lena husked out through a suddenly dry throat. She clung to Kara, their bodies from the chest down tightly pressed against one another. 

They weren’t moving. But the room was. 

Panicked voices tore them out of the moment. 

“No, no, no,” Kara huffed as sculptures began to topple and the sound of shattering glass filled the room. 

Mon-El rushed to her. “What do we do?”

“Take Lena and as many of the others as you can and get them out of this building. Get them as far away from it as possible!” She pointed to a group of people who decided to hunker down rather than run. She got close to his ear and instructed, “But whatever you do, don’t blatantly use your powers, got it?”

“Kara, I’m not leaving without you!” Lena shouted as Mon-El tried to usher her from Kara. The sound of the building cracking around them was deafening. 

“Trust me, go with him. Please, Lena, go.” She cupped Lena's face and begged with her eyes. 

Lena looked upset but nodded in agreement. 

Kara watched Mon-El pull Lena away for a second and then she dashed behind a pillar returning a split second later as Supergirl. She helped more people toward the exit and caught light fixtures that threatened to smash anything beneath them. 

As the room emptied, the rumbling intensified. Soon she stood alone with everyone else having escaped the banquet room. She stood, waiting. 

“Alex, can you hear me?” She pressed her earpiece. She had put the DEO on stand by in the event that something did happen at the gala. “Alex?”

She spun in a slow circle, ready for whatever else was about to happen. Once again she did not feel sick or powerless. There were no visions of Krypton, no underlying hidden memory of a pod lost in the darkness of space. It was just her in a crumbling room. 

Silence. 

The end of the rumbling was abrupt; she almost didn’t realize it had stopped. But when she did, the silence was louder than the rumbling. Just as in the first attack, she could not hear a thing, not even her own heartbeat. 

The room began to fill with the mysterious gray mist. At first it looked like wisps of smoke but then it collected itself into a dense, fuller cloud that spread into every corner of the room like a wave crashing over everything. It approached her with speed and she braced herself to be enveloped in it. But it stopped several feet away. 

She let out her breath, releasing her attack state. 

_ Crack. _

She spun at the sound of someone stepping on glass and came face to face with the old bearded man. She stumbled back but collected herself into a fighting stance, her hands out in front of her in the position Alex had taught her during their training sessions. 

The man made no acknowledgement of her. His eyes were fully white, not the blue she had seen that day on the street corner after the first attack. He was of average size and build but his presence towered over her. 

“Who are you?” She demanded. 

She got no response. 

She dropped her hands and slowly approached him. “Who are you?”

Before she could get much closer, his fist slowly raised out in front of him. After it was extended he rotated his arm, palm up, and opened his hand to reveal another stone. 

She swallowed hard. So far one of the stones had made her sick and the other had not. A fifty-fifty chance if she took it. She braced herself again, cringing as she reached out and took it from him. It was cold. Colder than anything she had ever felt. 

“I don’t understand…” She looked down at the stone. It was just like the others, a dark charcoal gray with strange markings. “Who are you?”

His hand was still outstretched, palm wide open. A small ball of light hovered just above it, one that was not there before when the stone had been in his hand. The ball of light blossomed into an orb the size of a large grapefruit. The light ebbed here and there making a clear picture of landmasses on its surface. It was the Earth. 

_ “Apart they will be the Earth’s doom, the birth of a plague of darkness.” _

The lit orb of Earth in his hand started to crack, imploding from its core. Kara’s blood ran cold. It was just like her last images of Krypton. She had watched from her pod as fired cracks spread across the planet’s surface until the implosion when debris projected into the sky. The same was happening to this orb.

“No! What is this?!” 

_ “One will yield hope and let the grief of loss rule the heart and soul.” _

His voice was just as she remembered it from the previous times except that now it was not overwhelming. It didn’t fill all the cavities of her mind nor did it echo around the room. It was of normal volume. But it still felt as if he was speaking at her rather than to her. 

In the first attack the words were said with a menaced hatred. The second attack’s message had sounded more like instructions rather than a threat. This time, there was a great sadness and a desperation in his voice. And then those same feelings consumed her. She felt as though her heart was shattering in her chest. It was worse than losing her parents or Krypton. This loss was not survivable. She fell to her knees and cried out. 

_ “The other will be forever alone, inheriting a familial legacy never wanted.” _

The sadness disappeared instantly. Before she could even breathe in any relief from that feeling, a coldness, some sort of hating acceptance filled her. She felt rage and she hated herself for it and for what was happening. She swallowed hard, suddenly angry at not only herself but at this cryptic old man in front of her. Angry at her friends. Angry at Supergirl. Angry at the stupid politicians and people who stood in her way. She looked up at him and felt her heat vision building in her eyes. His sudden movement took her by surprise and the rage disappeared, wiped away as if it had never existed. 

_ “Their fates will be intertwined, always, but the choice of how—” _ He pulled his arm back to his side. His head tilted down so they were facing one another head on. The deliberation in the movement reminded her of the demons in the horror movies Alex had forced her to watch and she recoiled at the likeness. He blinked and the once clouded white eyes returned to piercing blues ones that swirled with constellations and undertones of the universe. When their eyes met his final words were directed at her, “...is their own.”

Darkness filled her vision before she could register anything else. And then it felt like she was being ripped across her own lifetime. Images of Krypton and her childhood, her parents and her friends, then space and the Phantom Zone, Earth with her friends and family, the sound of laughter, voices, music, and the air rushing past her ears as she flew, her cape flapping behind her. Then there were images and sounds that she couldn’t place, people she didn’t know and events that she’d never experienced. Though she knew she didn’t know the people nor had experienced the events it all happened too fast that she couldn’t remember them once she saw them. It all happened in the blink of an eye and as if it had overloaded her brain she felt everything go black. There was suddenly nothing. 

****

“Supergirl? Can you read me?...Supergirl come in…”

She blinked her eyes open. Her body was fully laid back on the floor. She felt glass and rubble beneath her and knew she was still in the banquet room. Above her, lights swung, creaking with threats to come loose and fall. With great pain she sat up. She felt like she’d been beaten for days, like she had lived many lifetimes suddenly remembering the flashes before she passed out. 

“Supergirl?”

“I’m here, Alex. I’m okay.”

“Are you sure?”

She rolled her shoulders and then heaved herself up into a standing position. The stone was still in her hands. She turned it over and examined it again as she responded. “Yeah. Where are you guys?”

“We’re not coming. NCPD should be outside though.”

“Not...what?!” So much for being her back up. “I don’t understand.”

“Kara,” Alex’s voice had dropped and for her to use her real name she knew it was serious. “I need you to get to the DEO immediately.”

Kara froze. “Alex, are you okay?”

“Those are orders, Supergirl.” Then Alex clicked off. 

“Shit…,” she muttered as she made her way to the exit. 

“Yo, Supergirl!” Maggie called from the curb. “What’s the scoop?”

“Maggie, good you’re here.”

Maggie held up her hand. “It’s Detective Sawyer. What’s the situation?”

Kara rolled her eyes. She was tired of playing Supergirl with Maggie. “Sorry. We got everyone out. The room is damaged, I would make sure everyone on the upper floors are evacuated until a crew can get in and check out the building.”

“Witnesses from the rooms above said they neither heard or felt anything. Whatever it was happened only here in this room. Got any ideas?”

“We’re working on it.”

Maggie rolled her eyes but nodded. She then broke her detective role. “Do you know where Alex is? She’s always where you are and she’s not answering my text messages.”

“I’m going to her now, I’m sure she’s fine.” She hoped she sounded reassuring but by the look on Maggie’s face she didn’t think it worked. “I should go.”

She turned and looked for Lena in the crowd of party goers that were across the street. She didn’t see her or Mon-El. Since it was her party, Lena would be the most interrogated by the police and be responsible for getting all of this smoothed out. Their near kiss seemed like ages ago. Lifetimes. With one more glance she took off into the air. 

Her flight was short and careless. She landed hard on her balcony of the DEO headquarters in her worry and confusion from facing the old man head on. Through the glass facade, she could see what looked like every member of the DEO standing in the main room, their backs to her. She opened the door and made her way into the crowd of agents. 

“What’s going on?” she asked as she made her way to the front. She came up behind Alex who too was looking in the middle of their command center circle analyzing something. J’onn stood, irritated at whatever was happening. Winn looked uneasy but somewhat amused.

“And then I POPPED out!” A loud pop like the sound of a balloon being stuck with a thumbtack rang out and a man suddenly appeared out of nowhere in the command center laughing with his story. He looked around like he was expecting applause but they all were silently watching him in confusion. “Huh, tough crowd.”

“Who is this?” Supergirl asked. 

Alex opened her mouth to respond but before any words came out, the man jumped forward and grabbed her hand, shaking it enthusiastically. “Well here she is! The last girl of Krypton! My, my, aren’t you a pretty one!”

“And you are?”

“Mxyzptlk is the name, though you can just call me Mxy.” He left her standing there and returned to the command center where he jumped up onto one of the workstations and sat teetering on top of a computer monitor. This made Winn gasp and reach out as if to save the computer but then thought better. 

“What are you doing here?” Kara was losing patience and was annoyed that everyone here seemed to be letting this Mxy guy have free reign over their space. 

“Well, Kara Zor-El, I was just passing through this galaxy and learned about some mysterious forces going on here at one of my favorite vacation places...Earth,” he clarified. He picked at one of his nails, blew away whatever imperfection he had found there. “Thought I’d come check it out. I always love a good mystery, especially when it contains something so rare…”

“Contains what?”

He looked up at her and smiled wide. “A prophecy, of course.”


	5. Chapter 5

“A prophecy?” Kara asked. She was confused. “You mean the messages I’ve been getting? They’re a prophecy?”

"Oh, yes. No mistaking this.”

Alex finally found her voice. “How would you know that?”

“This is not the first time I’ve seen such events or spoken to beings about mysterious riddled messages.”

“I’m sorry, who are you again?” Kara shook her head and came closer to the man. She had entered this scenario late and no one was providing clear answers. 

The mysterious man sighed dramatically. “My name is Mxyzptlk, or Mxy for short. I am a fifth dimensional being come to your planet because you have received a prophecy.”

“What makes you think it's a prophecy?”

“Mysterious riddled messages, dramatic presentation of the messages to a single individual, ancient relics left behind, a creepy old man who lurks about...am I close?”

Kara gulped and nodded. She was distrubed by this being yet at the same time she felt a familiarity with him. She was weary of him but some piece of her trusted his knowledge and his presence. 

“Yes, I thought so. Unmistakable, really, at least once you’ve experienced it. I take it, Supergirl, that you are the target of the prophecy?”

“I guess so. I’m the one who gets the messages.”

“Hmm. May I know the messages? Perhaps I can help?”

Kara looked to J’onn and Alex who each evaluated the other in silence. They had worked with one another long enough that they could have full conversations without ever speaking a word. J’onn finally gave a single curt nod and turned to walk away. This caused the DEO agent crowd to disperse. 

“This way.” Alex instructed and led Mxy towards their testing room for the stones.

****

They made their way down staircase after staircase, deep into the bowels of the DEO. Their group was made up of Alex, Mxy, Kara, and Winn with two DEO guards following them from behind. Though J’onn gave the go ahead, they still didn’t want this random being of unknown powers waltzing through the DEO. 

Mxy exclaimed every so often at a common wall or door calling it extraordinary. He was so aloof, totally unbothered at the fact that there was a prophecy or how it was presented. Kara assumed he must have had many mysterious experiences if he was who he said he was. 

When they reached the deepest corridor of the DEO, Alex motioned for the guards to stay at the entrance and kept the rest of the party moving. Halfway down they passed a glass wall that allowed them to see Winn and Alex’s makeshift lab for their investigations of the stones. Next door to the lab, Alex pushed open another door and beckoned Mxy into it. 

Their examination room was windowless. The only light came from the fluorescent lights above and the bank of computer screens Winn had set up at his station. On the wall across from the computers was a large whiteboard where Winn had scribbled out the messages that Kara had received in the previous incidents. A pedestal in the center of the room held the two previous stones. Kara walked forward and placed the third next to the others. 

Mxy examined it all with even more glee like a kid in a toy store who doesn’t know where to look first. But then his eyes caught the whiteboard and he waved his hand over at it. “Is this it?”

Kara nodded stoically. 

He approached the whiteboard cautiously yet his eyes were greedily taking in every word. His playful manner had disappeared so suddenly leaving behind that sad calmness that occurs as the last guest leaves a party. There was now a serious hunger, like he had found the thing he had been searching for. Kara had seen that look in Alex when she found a piece of evidence that helped her track down a criminal. She had seen it on Lena’s face as she combed through books and archives and had found the piece to whatever science or technological puzzle was the focus of LCorp at the moment. This similarity made her drop her guard slightly. At this point she was willing to get help from wherever or whomever to make these attacks stop. 

“Is it just the two the messages? There are supposed to be three...”

“Supposed to be?” Alex asked. “How do you know that?”

“Like I said before this isn’t my first encounter. Nor is it my second or third. I’m quite experienced in these things actually.”

“No, it’s not. I received the third one tonight.” Kara interrupted. She watched Alex who was fixated on Mxy, studying him just like she did a perp during an interrogation and didn’t want to risk offending this potential source of information so she jumped in before Alex could continue her questioning. 

He nodded in agreement. This information pleased him. “Ah, that must have been the signature I felt as I passed. May I know what the message was?”

This one she remembered easily. There was no need to touch the relic to relive the message, and she was grateful for that because she hadn’t finished processing the initial experience of it all. She recited it easily.

In a fit to be useful, Winn rushed forward to write Kara’s words on the board with the others but Mxy snapped his fingers and every word that Kara spoke was transcribed for them, perfectly in Winn’s handwriting. 

As she finished, the vibration of her phone startled Kara. She pulled it out of her supersuit and saw Lena’s name across the banner. 

Lena: Where are you?! Are you okay?!

Oh, Rao. Somehow the gala seemed like it was days ago. She knew Lena was safe but didn’t think that Lena would be looking for her human self as the chaos died down. She had been so distracted she hadn’t even thought to text or call Lena. 

Kara: I’m sorry. I’m fine, I promise. Just trying to get this covered for CatCo. 

Mxy began to read the prophecy out loud. His voice was dreamy as if he was an equal part in awe and privileged to say them. 

The first hero will turn against its beloved, 

Submitting to the monsters of jealousy, greed, and pride.

Those once protected now suffer at the lost hero’s hands.

Their demise will be the demise of all. 

An unlikely marriage, a pairing of second chances, can save them.

This duo, once forbidden by family, will create a dynasty of their own.

They will be an unstoppable force and save not one but many worlds.

Only together will they succeed, only together will they rise.

Apart they will be the Earth’s doom, the birth of a plague of darkness.

One will yield hope and let the grief of loss rule the heart and soul.

The other will be forever alone, embracing a blood legacy never wanted.

Their fates will be intertwined, always, but the choice of how is their own.

Kara shivered as he said the last few words. All she could think about were those blue eyes of the old man boring into her soul. 

“What do you think it means?” Alex asked. It was her first time seeing the last part of the prophecy and she was frustrated that nothing had really come to light in the first reading. She worked best on intuition and the feel of patterns. There was always one piece of evidence, something a perp said or the way that they said it, some smell in the air at a crime scene that made her see connections and start pursuing the proper suspect. But with this message there was nothing. No spark of investigative brilliance that had served her so well. And that frustrated her to no end especially because she felt like she was failing Kara. 

“Isn’t it obvious?” He turned to Kara and wiggled his eyebrows at her. “You, my goddess, are to be married.” He conjured a bouquet of roses and offered them to her. “Perhaps I could be your lucky mate?”

“What?”

“Come now, Kryptonian. Surely your time on Earth has not made you that ignorant. It’s written right here in plain English.” He gestured to the second message. “A marriage.”

“Why do you think that means me?”

“Because you’re the one who has received the messages.”

Alex and Kara looked at one another and then back at Mxy, waiting for clarification.

He sighed again. “Prophecies are only revealed to the individual that is the subject of that given prophecy.” He clapped his hands. The whiteboard became a chalkboard, three school desks appeared in front of it, and Mxy’s outfit turned into a stereotypical eighteenth century teacher complete with a long pointer which he whacked on the chalkboard. “Have a seat, children. Let me educate you on prophecies!”

Alex looked at Kara in annoyance. She was biting her tongue and Kara could tell that her hand was itching for her gun. But they both knew that wouldn’t solve anything and sat down. 

Mxy cleared his throat. “Now prophecies come in three parts. The ‘how you got here’,” he pointed to the first message and then continued down the board as he narrated, “‘the thing you need to’ and the ‘what happens if you fail’.”

“We were right at least about that part,” Alex whispered to Kara. 

“You cannot change the prophesied past,” Mxy continued, “but the prophecy is telling you how to guarantee your future.”

“So this first hero has already,” Kara looked around Mxy to get the phrasing correct, “turned against its beloved? What hero? Who have they hurt?”

Mxy stroked his chin in concentration. “That is a good question! Let’s see here,” he paced in front of the whiteboard talking through the mystery out loud. “You would think it would be an Earthly hero since the prophecy references Earth directly...but it also mentions other worlds...maybe worlds close by...heroes...current heroes perhaps? You have T’els on Venus, Viz’id’s on Jupiter. So many. And then we could, of course, look at Earth’s heroes.”

“It’s not Superman. He has never turned on anyone or hurt anyone,” Kara blurted out before he could start. 

“Of course not, silly. There have been many heroes here on Earth before your cousin. Let’s see here...,” he continued his pacing. “...your people have always logged the tales of heroes so well, Earthlings love a good hero story so maybe a past one...King Arthur, Hunahpu and Xbalanque, Giv, Thor...and then you have all the classics like Cadmus, Hercules, Achilles.”

“Cadmus!” Winn, Alex, and Kara all said at the same time. 

“Is Cadmus a DEO favorite?” Mxy laughed at their response. 

Alex took the lead, giving Winn and Kara a look that told them to be secretive with their knowledge. “Let’s just say the name has popped up recently.”

Mxy bought this without asking for further details. “Well, these Earthly hero legends are all old. But the prophecy doesn’t have to mean literally these old heroes.” He shrugged his shoulders. “You see! Fascinating stuff!”

“And you’re sure it means me? This prophecy, at least the current and future parts, are about me?”

“Yes, my dear. It means you.”

“So I must marry someone who will help me save a bunch of worlds and if I don’t then one of us is going to be lonely and one will have a bad life, oh and on top of all of that, we destroy Earth.”

“Yeah, that sums it up.” Mxy clapped his hands again and Kara, Alex, and Winn went toppling to the floor as the desks disappeared beneath them. The room returned to its original state as did Mxy. “Questions?”

“How do I know who I’m supposed to marry?” Kara asked as she brought herself off the floor and helped Alex up, putting her hand over Alex’s to stop her from reaching for her gun.

“The universe will lay out everything you need for the right path, though finding those things and interpreting them is the ultimate test.” He sat but hovered in midair next to the whiteboard. “Once I was with a Genesisian, a simple farmer that had never stood up to anyone or any type of conflict. He received a prophecy that said he would use a powerful weapon to defeat a great enemy that would threaten his planet. But he was hesitant to leave his farm which was the sole source of food for his village. Despite this, he searched high and low for an all powerful weapon but he never found one. The war came, just as the prophecy stated, and he went into battle realizing he would fail because he had never found the weapon. He fought bravely but was bested at some point. Just as his enemy was going to execute him,” Mxy held his arm up over his head as if he held a sword and was going to stab down into his foe, “his hand found a handle of a sword in the sand beneath him. It was a one of a kind, made of some cosmic element that caused his enemy to weaken and recoil in its presence. With it he easily defeated the invaders and saved his race.”

“So I don’t need to do anything? My significant other will just drop into my life and it’ll be fine?”

Mxy laughed at this. “Oh no. I’ve seen many people choose to do just that and ultimately let their prophecy go unfulfilled. Which, by the way, is usually disastrous. The key is that mentally you need to accept your fate and open yourself for the universe to reveal the proper path for you. 

“The Genesisian, for example, tried and trained with every weapon as he searched. Doing so allowed him to become stronger, smarter and better with the tools of war. Without doing any of that he would not have survived the initial phase of the battle thus never finding the powerful weapon he was destined for. And as I said before he was hesitant to leave his farm. Yet wouldn’t you know that in the years he spent searching for the weapon, and ended up training himself, his wife, who had not been capable of bearing children, gave him several offspring who helped run the farm in his absence during the war. 

“Everything happens for a reason. But, you’re not totally wrong, Kara, the universe will drop people and events in your lap and it is up to you to use them correctly to make your destiny come true. And the relics, well, they will become quite valuable. Achieve your prophecy and the relics will tell you something as a reward.”

Alex was less impressed than Kara, and Winn too, who was taking notes fiercely of Mxy’s story at his station. “How have you gained so much knowledge about prophecies? As far as we can tell, they are rare. But you make it seem like you encounter a prophecy with some sort of regularity.”

“I am an immortal being so I have experienced all of time. And prophecies are something of a personal curiosity for me.”

His eyes didn’t meet her own and that made her feel uneasy. “Care to explain?”

“Never you mind.” He smiled smugly and turned to address Kara directly. “All you need to be concerned with is fulfilling this prophecy.”

“How long do I have? The farmer you said had years obviously so is there a time limit?”

His mouth opened but he never got a syllable out. 

Mon-El tore into the room, either not realizing or not caring that he was interrupting them. He took Kara’s arm and looked her over as though she could have been hurt. “What happened out there? I got Lena out of the hotel and then you disappeared! Are you okay?” 

“I’m fine,” she fussed at him. She was annoyed that he was here. His timing was, as always, perfect for thwarting whatever she was trying to do. 

“Isn’t that interesting.” Mxy’s eyes were critical of them, analyzing Mon-El’s grip on Kara’s arm. He dropped his legs back to the floor and crossed his arms. That thirst for analysis was back but this time Kara recoiled as she was the target his gaze scrutinized. 

“What? What’s interesting?” Winn asked. He too was suspiciously looking at Kara and Mon-El but with disgust. 

“A boy from Daxam and a girl from Krypton. Fate certainly has interesting story lines.” He turned back to the whiteboard and reread the message again under his breath. His face furrowed and he tossed his head side to side as he mumbled, as if he was having an argument with himself. He finished with a shrug of a shoulder and a “huh.”

“Why is this imp here?” Mon-El growled. He cracked his knuckles and took a step forward, trying to protect Kara. 

“Don’t stress yourself, Daxamite. I’d hate to see you put your small brain to any kind of effort,” Mxy purred over his shoulder. “We all know that your kind—” he stopped suddenly. He turned slowly as though his worst fear was just standing behind him. His eyes widened in fear like a deer in headlights. They were fixated past Mon-El and Kara, focused at the nothingness he saw in the empty corner of the room. “Nevermind that, no use being cruel. I do hope you all figure this one out.”

Alex rushed forward. “Wait, you’re leaving?”

But Kara had felt a sudden chill of fear too. Her body tensed just as Mxy’s had, like there was something just behind her, some ominous presence that made her skin tingle unpleasantly. She inhaled sharply and spun to face her attacker but found nothing behind her. The room behind her was empty. With a gulp, she turned back to Mxy, their eyes meetings and sharing the knowledge of a common fear.

“Please don’t go.” Her lip trembled. He was the only one that seemed to understand, who could help them understand this. And now he was leaving. She felt some sort of attachment to him beyond his apparent knowledge for this unknown situation that had been bothering them all. A distant friend who you didn’t know you missed until they reappeared. 

He looked deep within her eyes, imploring her to take his words seriously. “In your case you need to act fast. The clock is already ticking and those who wish to destroy this planet are hard at work. Remember, you don’t have to have it fully achieved, but you must put yourself on the right path so that you can achieve it. Good luck, my beautiful Kryptonian.” 

He bowed low to her. With one last look to the empty corner he snapped his fingers and was gone. 

************************************************************************************

Alex pushed away her plate and drained the drops from her wine glass. She patted her small food bump and stretched her legs out underneath the coffee table. “Are you sure you’re not going to eat?”

They were sitting in Kara’s apartment, Alex on the floor and Kara laid out on the couch behind her. Kara had her favorite throw pillow wrapped in her embrace and was staring out the window. They’d been in these positions for hours except for when Alex had gone to the door to get their food delivery. Alex had spoken several times to Kara but each time she received no answer. They would go an hour without speaking and then Alex would try again to no avail. 

“It was really good. We should order from here more often,” she said as she brought Kara’s plate over her head to entice her to take it. 

“A boy from Daxam and a girl from Krypton,” Kara muttered, completely oblivious to Alex or the food. Though she had barely spoken in the almost six hours they had been working over the prophecy, when she did, it was this repeated phrase from Mxy.

Alex brought the plate back down, shrugged, and then started in on Kara’s food. “Are you going to say anything but that?”

Silence. 

“What did Mxy say to you right before he left?” She tried again.

More silence.

“Kara! You’re going to have to talk to me so we can figure this out.”

Kara sighed. “What?”

Alex repeated. “You have to talk to me.”

“Sorry. What did you ask?” A part of her had forgotten that Alex was even there. 

“What did Mxy say to you right before he left?”

“He said I had to act fast and get myself on the right path.”

“We need to get you hitched,” Alex concluded. She dropped her fork down on the plate with a loud clang. 

“It’s not funny, Alex.”

“I’m not laughing, Kara.” Alex pushed the coffee table away from the couch and turned. “This is serious. And ridiculous. I don’t for a second trust that strange little man. But if he’s right, if this is some sort of prophecy on what will happen if you don’t find a way to stop it, then we’re all fucked.”

“I believe him.”

Alex grimaced. She pushed her hair back from her face and pursed her lips as she thought for a second. “In a way I do too. What he has told us makes sense. But what bothers me is his sudden appearance during this whole thing and him dodging some of my questions.”

“Mon-El said that’s what these beings do. They are snarky and showy, always looking for drama. But that doesn’t mean he’s wrong.”

“I just wish we had more information is all.”

“Why is it always me?” She didn’t mean to sound pathetic and self-defeating, but the weight of this world on her shoulders was too much right now. “Why am I the one who is always targeted?”

Alex grabbed her hands and kissed them. Her anger at Kara’s silent treatment faded as quickly as it had come on. “I don’t know. But the universe obviously thinks you’re strong enough to handle it. We just need to figure out how to fulfill it.”

“I know what to do.”

“You do?”

“Yes, I figured it out a couple hours ago.”

“What? What is it? Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Because I’ve been trying to figure out if it can be anything else!” Tears suddenly burst from her. She dropped her face into her hands and sobbed harder than she ever had. 

Alex raised herself up to her knees and hugged her tightly. “Tell me. Let me help you.”

After a few gasps she finally whispered. “It’s Mon-El.” 

“What?”

“‘A boy from Daxam and a girl from Krypton’. It’s what Mxy said. ‘An unlikely marriage’...a ‘second chance’ for our people.” 

“No, it can’t—”

“‘Once forbidden by family’. He has powers like mine so he can stand beside me, help me defeat whatever will threaten Earth. It makes sense,” she sniffed. “Mxy said that the universe drops the answers right in front of us. Mon-El just so happens to come to Earth a few weeks ago. After all this time? And of all places, his pod brings him to Earth? It can’t be a coincidence.”

“But that means...no...Kara.” Alex covered her mouth when she realized the true cause of Kara’s tears. It wasn’t the prospect of marrying Mon-El. It was, “Lena.”

Kara’s body quaked as she started crying again. 

“What are you going to do?”

All Kara could do was shake her head as she was overcome with grief. It took a half an hour before she found her voice again, before she dared to look at Alex. When she did, she found tear tracks down her sister’s cheeks. “I have to give her up. You were right, I should have shut this down weeks ago.”

“Kara, when I said that I was coming from a completely different perspective—”

“No, I know. That’s not what I meant. You’re always trying to protect me.” Kara suddenly felt like the strong one. After all she was the one who had come to this conclusion and had been ruminating on it for hours longer than Alex. “Mxy said that people and events come into the lives of those who get prophecies for a reason. Maybe in some weird way fate was telling me through you to not pursue Lena. If I hadn’t been worried about upsetting you I would have told Lena my feelings a long time ago.”

“I’m sorry. I really like Lena.”

“I know, Alex. Me too,” she said with a sad chuckle which caused Alex to laugh too. 

“I want you to be happy. Mon-El doesn’t make you happy.”

Kara looked back out the window. She was thinking about that memory of her parents dancing, thinking about her and Mon-El dancing. “My parents were in an arranged marriage. I would have been too, if Krypton hadn’t been destroyed. And they were happy, eventually. I imagine it will just take time.”

Alex looked like she had swallowed a disgusting bug. 

“Does Maggie make you happy?”

This caused Alex’s face to relax. She tried to contain her sheepish smile but she couldn’t hide the flush of red to her cheeks. “She really does. This is the first time in my life that I’ve truly felt happy, like I’m finally who I am supposed to be.”

“Then that alone to me is worth saving.”

“But Kara—”

“But nothing.” 

She stood from the couch and side stepped her sister. Once in the kitchen she pulled down the scotch that Alex kept tucked behind the cereal boxes. Lena had given it to Alex as a thank you for saving her when a terrorist attempted to assassinate her at a press conference. Alex had nearly passed out when she got it as it was apparently the best in the world and worth more than Alex’s yearly salary. Kara had been under strict instruction to keep it at her place for celebrations so that Alex didn’t use it after ordinary stressful days. She opened it with ease and poured two glasses.

“Mon-El has asked me out probably six times just this week so it’s not like he isn’t interested. And Lena and I haven’t even explicitly started anything. I can just stop it now before I hurt her too much.”

“Let it breathe!” Alex scrambled off the floor in both excitement and fear of Kara handling her scotch. 

“I’ve made my decision. Or, well, I guess the universe has made its plans obvious. So here is to you and Maggie, here’s to saving Earth...” Tears began to spill from her eyes again. Her strong resolve was crumbling. “And here’s to Lena. May she find someone better than me to love her.”

Alex raised her glass with Kara though she didn’t share in her sentiment. Something told her that there would never be a love like Kara’s for Lena. “To you, Kara.”

************************************************************************************

_ “Good morning, National City! The weather is in cahoots with the city planners it seems, we’ve got a nice fall chill today as the preparations for the Fall Festival begin. Now don’t forget, the festival opens tonight and I’ll be at the KMYZ booth handing out fall goodies.” _

Kara turned off the alarm radio and flopped back down on her bed. She was not ready for what today would bring. Usually she loved the mornings, fixing her coffee, eating a nice breakfast, and then going out into the world as Kara Danvers to help the inhabitants of Earth as a journalist or as Supergirl keep them safe. This morning, however, she didn’t want to leave her bed. She didn’t want to be this Kara Danvers or this Supergirl. The price of this choice was almost too much. Almost.

At eleven she finally pulled herself from her blankets and pillows and dressed for L-Corp. Many times on her walk over she stopped, warning to turn back and come up with a new plan. Yet there was no other way to interpret the prophecy especially in light of Mxy’s advice. This had to be done. As Jess waved her into the office she repeated it over and over. This had to be done.

“Kara! I didn’t know that you were stopping in. I would have ordered us lunch.” Lena stood from her desk beaming, her arms outstretched to bring Kara in for a hug. “I’ve missed you the last few days.”

Kara tried to return the smile but couldn't quite make her lips execute the move. She knew that she felt stiff in Lena’s arms and hated herself for it. She cursed herself for the hundredth time for not doing before as Alex had instructed weeks ago. If she had then this would be so much easier. “I…I’m sorry.”

“No doubt you’ve been busy with everything going on. The earthquake they’re now saying wasn’t an earthquake at the gala, more from this Cadmus group. I hope you’ve been able to take care of yourself during it all.” She tucked a loose strand of blonde hair behind Kara’s ear and smiled caringly at her. “You work so hard.”

Kara swallowed hard. “No harder than you.”

“Sometimes I really doubt that. You seem to disappear more on me for work than I do to you.” Lena winked and leaned back on her desk.

“Lena...I need to talk to you about something…”

“Ms. Luthor?” Jess’s voice came over the intercom. 

Lena held her hand up to Kara to pause. “Yes, Jess?”

“You have a phone call. It’s...it’s  _ them _ .” Her voice was serious. “Would you rather me send it to Sam?”

“Oh, shit. No, no. Go ahead and put it through. And will you please clear the rest of my day? After this phone call I’m whisking Kara away for lunch and some relaxation if she can manage it.” She winked again at Kara but this time there wasn’t as much flirtation behind it as there previously had been. Whether it was because of Kara’s behavior or the impending phone call was unclear. 

“Of course, Ms. Luthor.” 

“Let me deal with this and then I’m all yours.” Lena looked up at Kara as she waited for the call to be put through. 

“But Lena I...” 

Lena answered the phone never letting her eyes leave Kara. There was confusion on her face as her initial happiness of seeing Kara started to fade at Kara’s demeanor. “Hello, Phillip.”

The two exchanged pleasantries but the conversation quickly turned to business. Kara seated herself in her usual chair in front of Lena’s desk and looked anywhere but at Lena’s beautiful face. She was losing her nerve. Tears were beginning to form at the corner of her eyes and her lungs didn’t want to fill with anything but shallow, painful microsobs. 

“Well,” Lena’s eyes widened and she sounded stunned, “that is certainly a major change from the last time we talked.”

Kara picked up Lena’s elevated heartbeat and used her super hearing to focus on the call.

“...we would, of course, prefer for you to be here in Metropolis with us. I only trust you and Sam with my lab and technicians.”

“I’m very flattered that you would trust us with your life’s work.”

“You’re the best, Lena. Everyone knows it. Your brother can’t hold a candle to you.”

Lena’s cheeks flushed. It was rare that someone emphasized her intelligence but it was even more rare that someone compared her to Lex in a positive way. “You are always one for compliments, Phillip.”

“I mean it. I wouldn’t even consider this if it was still LuthorCorp and I sure as hell wouldn’t be doing this with Lex.”

Kara was distracted by Jess who came in with a stack of files. She stood next to the couch, not approaching Lena’s desk without permission. Never missing anything, she clearly noticed Kara’s apprehension. Her usual knowing smile, the one she gave her and Lena when they tried to act like there was no sexual or romantic tension between them, was nowhere to be found. Instead her eyebrows were pinched and her lips were pursed defensively. 

“Sam and I have been looking forward to collaborating with you on this project,” Lena continued. She signaled to Jess that she would sign the files, and then returned them back to Jess’s outstretched hands.

Jess left with a suspicious glare to Kara. They had always gotten along, save for the first time Kara stormed past her to get into Lena’s office, but Jess was the most protective person of Lena, perhaps even more so than she herself was, and it was clear from the tension in the room that something was wrong. 

After some minor discussion of a few of the details, Lena promised to talk more with Sam and get back to Phillip about the potential acquisition. Once the phone was settled back in its cradle, she swiveled her chair toward the wall of windows where she could see the bay through the other towering buildings of downtown National City. She was distracted. 

Kara cleared her throat. “Maybe I should go?”

“No! I’m sorry.” Lena spun back around. “I wasn’t expecting all of this. They doubled their offer and I’m a little flabbergasted to be honest. L-Corp is in desperate need for liquid funds and the original deal was going to be of big help. Now this...this could help me get multiple projects off the ground.”

The acquisition would cause Lena to move away. It would make any relationship between them difficult and there was no use starting a romance if Lena was going to leave. 

Mxy was right. 

The universe provided the perfect excuse for getting Lena out of her life. 

“You should take it. It sounds like a great opportunity for you and L-Corp.”

Lena laughed awkwardly, shaking her head in disbelief. She left her desk and joined Kara on the couch, sitting close enough that their legs were touching. “That would mean that I would have to move back to Metropolis.”

“Metropolis is nice. And it’s not like you haven’t lived there before.”

“But then I wouldn’t get to see you as often.”

“We can still be friends even across the country.” Kara flashed her eyes up to Lena’s face at the word ‘friends’ but couldn’t stand to let them linger on her face. 

“Friends.” Lena said the word like it tasted bad in her mouth. She stiffened and her brow crinkled in confusion rather than the playful crinkle she got with Kara when they were flirting. 

“I’ll always be your friend, Lena. No matter where you are in the world.” Her mouth finally found the ability to put on a fake smile. She needed to get out of here. She couldn’t do this any longer. “I should let you get back to work. I’m sure you’ll need time to deal with that phone call and stuff. I just, you know, wanted to stop in and see you since we haven’t had much time together since the gala.”

She rose from the couch and pulled her purse over her shoulder. She needed to get out of this room before this lie fell apart, before she told Lena everything and begged Lena to stay with her. The acquisition was a perfect excuse for Lena and her to go their separate ways. If Lena was here in National City and was in their friend group, there would be no way Kara could keep herself distant or start something with Mon-El. And starting something with Mon-El right in front of Lena would be downright cruel. This was already hard enough to do. 

Lena scoffed but quickly put on a big smile to cover it up. “You and the phone call have given me a lot to think about. I guess we’ll talk later?”

“Of course! I’ll stop by in the next couple of days, we can do lunch.” Kara hated the lie but when she looked into Lena’s eyes she knew that Lena knew it was a lie. 

“Have Jess put you in the books on your way out.”

Kara nodded and with another forced smile turned to leave. Her whole body screamed at her to stop, to go back and make things right. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. She stopped and tried to think of something that would somehow make this better for both of them. But she knew there was nothing she could say. They were both going to get hurt no matter what. She had been thinking of every possible scenario to make this all work but neither her nor Alex found any other way. And she couldn’t not use the acquisition when it fell right into her lap as the perfect excuse. 

When she looked over her shoulder she found Lena staring out the windows, arms crossed. But what she couldn’t see were the tears streaming down Lena’s face. Not that mattered. Kara had to hide her own as she rushed toward the elevator, ignoring Jess’s concerned calls after her.


	6. Chapter 6

Five Years Later

************************************************************************************

_Lena: Where are you?! Are you okay?!_

Kara curled herself around the pillow tighter. It had been five years. Five years since her last conversation with Lena. She had never deleted her number but she had also never tried messaging it again. So much time had passed that now when she wanted to see her name she had to scroll quite a bit down into her messages to find it. 

They had only seen each other one more time before Lena moved back to Metropolis but no words were exchanged. She had heard in the newsroom that Lena had gone ahead with that business deal, the universe’s plan coming to fruition. It wasn’t until a few days later when someone had let it slip to Alex, who then immediately texted Kara, that Lena was about to fly out, that the reality of losing Lena for good sunk in. She flew from the DEO to the private airstrip that Lena always used to find she was almost too late. Really, she was too late. Lena was halfway up the stairs to the plane when Kara rushed out the back of the small airport, barely getting her supersuit changed into her plain clothes and with security guards yelling for her to stop. Lena looked back at the sound and her face sank at the sight. Kara took one more step forward but Lena shook her head and entered the plane without another glance behind her.

They had not seen nor spoken to one another since. 

Kara had started writing out texts and emails but could never bring herself to send them. Lena never reached out either. What were two broken hearts supposed to say? Not that it would matter. Kara sacrificed her love for Lena to lead this life, to protect Earth. And that was worth it. Wasn’t it? Sometimes she began to wonder if her mantra was true. 

“Kara?” Mon-El’s voice rang out followed closely by the snap of the front door shutting.

It was late. Too early for him to be home from the bar if he went there to work but too late from his other jobs. She hadn’t expected to see him at all tonight - not that that was unusual.

She sat up on the edge of the bed and looked at the message once more before locking her phone. She plugged it into the charger and tossed it on the nightstand next to the picture of her and Mon-El on their honeymoon, laughing on a beach. For a brief time they had had some sort of happiness. It was nothing compared to how she had once felt around Lena but it wasn’t unpleasant in the beginning. During this time he had been ecstatic to be with her. And she was even successful in convincing herself it was good, that with time it would get better and they’d have a happy and fulfilling relationship like her parents had once had. It had been wishful thinking, however. Now there was very little laughter and only straining tension that infected every aspect of their lives. 

She stopped in the doorway as he came down the hall toward the bedroom. He was half undressed, his shirt opened to reveal his bare chest. His belt was undone and his jeans open, falling slightly down his hips. 

“Hey,” he said. It once was ‘hey, beautiful’ or sometimes a funny compliment. Now it was only ‘hey’ if she got anything. 

“Hey. Do you work tonight at the bar?” So often she only saw him in the house as he changed clothes from one job to his next job if she saw him at all. It was rare they were in the townhouse together with the opportunity to spend time with one another. 

He was working three jobs. Not because they needed money but because he claimed he wanted to. She suspected that his jobs were ways to avoid her and their relationship. These jobs were always at places with his friends and were the type that let him party and be out at all hours. During the afternoons and early evening he delivered food for several restaurants that in turn paid him not only in money but with food, which he loved. Then at night he worked at a bar across town. On his days off from the delivery service and the bar, a rare occurrence, he had some sort of freelance construction deal with a buddy of his. They didn’t seem to mind that he randomly dropped by to help. After all he was a strong worker. Literally. Kara had been on his case for a long time to stop using his powers so much in public but he didn’t seem to care. 

That was essentially what their relationship boiled down to: Mon-El doing something and Kara getting on to him for it. She hated feeling like she was his babysitter but he refused to learn or grow up. He hated feeling controlled by her and just wanted her to let him live his own life. This caused constant bickering between the two of them. If she questioned him about anything in his life he felt as if she was trying to invade his privacy and control him. Their relationship revolved around arguing, sex, and a great deal of time alone without the other. 

The irritation was already rolling off of him and his retort was sharp. “No, I have tonight off.”

“Are you staying in with me then?”

“Maybe. Depends on what you had in mind. And if you’ll stop asking me so many questions.” He stepped up to her and put his hands on her hips. It was all so matter of fact now. There had never been a lot of passion but what was once there had certainly fizzled out. 

What was she in the mood for tonight? Sex or arguing?

She took a step back into the bedroom while untucking her shirt. 

************************************************************************************

“Where are you going?” she asked, pulling the sheet over her bare chest as she rolled over. She stared at Mon-El’s back, watching him gather his clothes quickly from the floor. 

“I’m gonna go out with some friends.” There was no regret in his voice. No hint of remorse in leaving her alone. He did it all the time so why should he? 

“This late?” She internally groaned at herself. Their recent arguments had been about his ever growing absences and her questioning them. She only wanted an explanation as to where he disappeared to all the time when he wasn’t at one of his jobs. He called it being nosy. She called it being honest.

They had been fighting more lately and that was saying something because they had fought from day one of him coming to Earth with only a brief reprieve around the time they got married. The recent fights were because he rarely stayed in their townhouse and if he did, he made sure his schedule was the opposite of hers.

He preferred to only spend time with her when other people – mainly his friends – were around or for short intervals before or after work one or both of their jobs so that he had an excuse to leave. Now here they were again. He showed up for a romp in the sack and was back to avoiding her. There was little to no talking, as usual, just straight to bed, and now he was bailing before she could say more than two words to him. She felt so used. 

“I made these plans days ago and I’m not going to stand up my friends.” He pulled his pants up and grabbed his shoes, trying to leave half-clothed rather than listen to her pleas for him to stay while he put them on. 

“Why can’t you spend more than just a few hours with me?” She finally sat up and stretched her arm out towards him but he took another step away from her, just out of her reach. “Why can’t you spend one night with me in this bed anymore? We could wake up and have breakfast together. It’s nice when we actually _sleep_ together, you know.”

He turned and faced her, an awkward and anxious look across his face and she knew she was fighting a losing battle. She knew he preferred being on his own. He liked his own things and liked to live his way. He had made this obvious from the moment the DEO started training him. He told her time and again during the last five years since he had come to Earth that he was a lone wolf. When they had been dating he always came to her place; they rarely ever went to his. Then, when she bought this townhouse for them after they got engaged, he did everything he could to not make it his home. They had fought for weeks after she bought it because he insisted that he needed to keep his own place, even after they got married.

On nights like this, when she begged him to stay, she felt pathetic but she realized early in their relationship that feeling pathetic felt slightly better than the lonely guilt that suffocated her after he left. Bad attention was better than no attention. At least when he stayed and they argued their relationship felt real. 

“Kara,” he sighed, “I don’t want to do this tonight.” 

“Fine.”

Mon-El’s shoes dropped back to the floor with a loud thud. “Don’t be like that.”

She did not respond as she picked at the sheet around her. The disappointment radiated from every inch of her being. 

He rolled his eyes and pushed his pants back down his legs. This was one of those times where it was easier to give into her than to argue. He won these battles nine out of ten times. He could let her have this one. There would be other nights that he would need the escape card so better to give into her now and bail then instead.

She laid back on her pillow as he climbed back into the bed. “Thank you, Mon-El.”

He texted someone on his phone and then flopped back down on his pillow. After he was comfortable, he loosely wrapped his arm around her without another word. Two minutes later she heard his first snore in her ear. No asking how her day was or how her job was going. No checking in to see how things at the DEO were and if he was needed for anything. No checking in on his new family and their welfare. 

She pulled his arm tighter around her but no relief came. She wanted him to be present in this relationship. He had wanted her. Badly, even, at one point. But his feelings had diminished over their marriage. He didn’t chase her like he used to. He had never been smooth or all that charming in her opinion but at least he used to try. She felt like his discarded toy, no longer shiny and holding his interest. But could she even be mad at him about it? Wasn’t this what happened in most marriages? And wasn’t she using him to fulfill the prophecy? How did she expect him to be present in their relationship when her heart was secretly beating for someone else? The world was safe. She had to be honest with herself that her Supergirl duties had been much easier the last five years. No world-destroying conflicts or threats. The last major foe she could recall had been that Cadmus group and that threat fizzled out before the DEO could even truly focus on it. J’onn and Alex chalked it up to an extremist group led by Lillian Luthor that couldn’t gain any more public support once the events of the prophecy started. And they were such a minor threat anyway; Supergirl had never been needed to help with all of that. THey concluded in the end that Cadmus had been a political move for Lillian rather than an actual terrorist group

Now, a part of her hoped Supergirl would be called away to a disaster just so she could distract herself from these questions that pounded her head. Yet she had just begged him to stay and somehow she wanted to be alone too. She was so confused and so unhappy. She wished for the days around the beginning of their marriage when everything seemed easier. Really, she wished for the days before the stupid prophet had shown up. The last game night that Lena had attended before all of this started was the last time she had laughed wholeheartedly and truly felt happy. 

This was all so toxic and she hated it. 

She sighed and closed her eyes. Sometimes the loneliest place to be in the universe was in another’s arms. And sometimes the only person that could be blamed was yourself, she thought. 

************************************************************************************

Kara woke to the sound of the shower the next morning. Her clock showed just past nine. She sat up and yawned heavily. She didn’t sleep well. Her dreams were haunted by Lena and her frustration at Mon-El did little to calm her mind even in her dreams. She kept having the same one. The world crumbling around her and Lena turning away to leave her behind in the wreckage. She was having it more and more, the dream becoming even more vivid each time it happened. 

The sound of Mon-El’s phone buzzing on the nightstand broke her analysis. It had buzzed several times in the middle of the night and she was sure at least once Mon-El had left their bed to respond to whatever messages he was getting. 

She pulled herself from the bed and made her way to the kitchen. She had pancakes nearly done and scrambled eggs cooking by the time Mon-El came out, dressed casually and obviously not for his jobs. He poured himself a glass of juice and sat quietly on his phone while she finished up. 

“Do you want to do something tonight? Maybe we can order in and watch a movie?” she asked. She had convinced him to one night with her, maybe she could get lucky to get two out of him and trick herself into believing this relationship was working. 

“I can’t. I have to work.”

“Oh, okay.” She accepted his answer but only briefly. “But it’s Wednesday. You never work on Wednesdays.”

“Well I work tonight. I’m taking more shifts and my schedule is going to be changing randomly.”

 _A perfect excuse so that you can always leave_. Her curiosity drove her mouth though her brain told her to drop it. “Why?”

He turned on her. “Why are you harassing me all the time? Every time we’re together you’re constantly prodding. What’s it to you if I work more? Isn’t that what you wanted? For me to get a job and be normal?”

“I’m just trying to be with you. You’re always off doing your own thing. I feel like I’m the only one in this relationship sometimes.”

He laughed dismissively at her as he tied his shoes. “I’m doing everything I can to make you happy without driving myself crazy. You want me to be a hero so I show up every time the DEO calls.” He waved his wrist with his DEO watch at her. “You want me to have a normal life on the side. I get jobs and friends but that’s not enough for you. I married _you_.”

“Exactly. This is a marriage. I’m only asking for you to be more involved in this relationship.” 

She wanted to tell him to go, that she was done with him. She knew why she was invested in their relationship but she had no idea why he was sticking around anymore, and she was too scared to ask him outright for fear of him ending things and risking the prophecy. She had to figure out how to get him invested in their relationship so that they could achieve what they needed but also not drive him away. She was dangerously dancing on that line. 

“I don’t mean to come across as a nag.”

His face softened somewhat. “You’re not a nag. I just...I need space.”

“And I need you to actually be a part of this relationship. Can’t we work something out? I don’t want to have to beg you to spend time with me. It feels like if I don’t ask to see you then you could go weeks without even thinking of me, or us.”

“That’s not true, Kara.”

“It feels like it.”

He sighed. “I have to work tonight. So what do you want from me?”

“Will you take off Friday since you’re taking this extra shift tonight? That way we can go to Kelly’s birthday together like an actual couple?”

She saw the displeasure in his face. It was obvious he was arguing with himself. 

“Please, Mon-El?”

“Fine. I’ll tell Imra I need Friday off.”

“Thank you. Really.”

He downed the rest of his juice and pecked her on the cheek. “I’ll see you later.”

After he left, she sat down to her breakfast, pushing his untouched food to the side. She took one bite but couldn’t stomach another. She moved her own plate to the side and buried her face in her arms on the table. No tears came. She hadn’t shed a single one since she had left Lena’s office five years ago. And she wasn’t about to start now. 

************************************************************************************

She was distracted by the time she showed up to CatCo. Her stop in Noonan’s to get the news staff coffee backfired when she ran into a journalist from another magazine who seemed to deliberately take the opposite of Kara’s side and try to make trouble. As she tried to get away from his scummy attempts to goad her into a debate, she had dropped all the coffees and made a huge mess. Another twenty minutes later she was finally able to get on the elevator, a new stack of coffees in her hand and her cheeks flushed in anger at the stupid journalist who had laughed at her the entire time she had waited for the second round to be made. 

By the time the elevator dinged that she was on her intended floor, she was in a near fit of rage. Nothing it seemed was going right today, or recently for that matter, and she wanted to fly away and never come back. 

She stopped at the main receptionist’s desk in the lobby, sitting down the stack of coffees carefully. “Julie, I think yours is on the bottom. Dammit, I must have stacked these out of order…”

She received no reply. Only the blaring of the ringing phone, somehow louder and more insistent than usual. CatCo’s phones ringing was a usual thing but no one was picking them up.

“Julie?” 

She looked around the tower of coffees and found an empty desk. Julie’s headset looked like it had been thrown is haste. Her purse was still tucked under her desk so Kara knew she had been here at one point. 

That’s when she turned and realized no one was in the lobby with her. CatCo was usually bustling with people. Employees going department to department delivering work, visitors of all sorts coming and going, and secretaries trying to herd them all. The lobby was completely empty. The only thing that filled it was the sound of the hundreds of phone lines. 

She left the coffees on Julie’s desk and peered around the CatCo centerpiece and into the newsroom. No one was at the first row of desks either. She felt a chill rush down her spine. Her body reflexively went into defense mode, her knees slightly bent as she took slow side steps. 

The door to the stairs opened behind her with a loud clang and spun. It was one of the members of the accounting team from the offices below the newsroom. He gave her a quizzical look and jogged past her into the newsroom. She watched him join the rest of the employees who had gathered themselves into a large crowd at the far corner of the room, all focused on something happening outside of the windows. James, towering above everyone else in his height, was toward the back of the group and was frozen in rapt attention to whatever was happening. 

And that’s when she saw it. Across the city there were plumes of smoke. As she watched their panorama view, a ball of purple flames fell toward the city. It disappeared behind a building. Seconds later, a new stream of smoke rose from that spot. 

“James?”

He turned and was clearly confused by her presence. “Why are you here?”

“What’s going—”

The sound of whistling, like an incoming missile, rang through the air. Another ball of purple flames whizzed by their window and smashed into the building across the street. It wasn’t a large entry point but it had knocked a couple windows and a fire had now started inside as the projectile rolled across the floor.

“Everyone out!” James shouted. The CatCo employees scrambled away from the windows toward the stairs. 

Kara put her hand up to her earpiece. “Alex?” 

Nothing. 

She ran to the stairwell but instead of following everyone down, she made her way to the roof. From this advantage point, she could see even more plumes of smoke. They were all over the city. Another ball of flames appeared on the horizon. It rose from behind the mountains and then in a perfect arc made its way down toward the city. It went through a building that was already on fire but this second assault caused the building side to break away. The outer walls spilled down into the street, brick and glass raining down on cars and pedestrians. 

Several blocks away was the DEO’s headquarters. With her x-ray vision she could see their trucks streaming from the private parking garage. Several peeled off toward the south heading toward the part of the city that had thus far taken most of the damage. A few others headed west. She assumed it was headed for the mountainous area outside of the city where the attack was coming from. Alex would be with that group. 

She flew off of CatCo’s building trailing after the convoy. She tried her earpiece once more. “Can anyone hear me?”

Nothing again. 

One of the flaming projectiles came down from above her. It was no bigger than a basketball but it was hotter than anything she had felt here on this planet. It grazed her arm as she went into evasive flight maneuvers. Whoever was doing this was firing at a faster pace now. 

She swooped next to the lead vehicle. They couldn’t stop - they were in too great of a hurry. She eased herself down onto the footrail, the truck wobbling slightly from her landing but it kept right on going. 

Alex rolled down the window. “Where have you been?”

“My earpiece isn’t working.”

“None of them are. Winn can’t figure out why but we’re all in the dark here.”

The rest of their equipment seemed to be fine. It was just their communication system. 

“What have we got?” Kara flattened herself to the side of the car as they took a sharp turn. “Are you headed to the launch point?”

“Yes. They’re plasma bombs. Winn’s working on finding the specific type.”

“What do you need me to do?”

“Stay with us. We’ll need you to help us with whatever we find over the ridge.” A bump in the street caused her to grab the handle above the door but she kept staring at Kara’s right arm. “You might want to call in Mon-El for this.” 

Kara looked at her own arm. Her supersuit was seared away where the plasma ball had swiped her. “I’m fine. I’m not hurt.”

“No, but there aren’t many elements on this planet that can damage your suit like that. We’re dealing with something new here and it’d be nice to have two Supers just in case.”

“He’s not a Super,” Kara mumbled. This wasn’t the time or place to argue. 

Another whistle of threat rang out over the rumbling of the truck. She looked up. It was coming right at them, or they right at it. 

“Vasquez, left!” Kara screamed. She put her foot down onto the pavement rushing past them and pushed hard. With Vasquez’s turn of the wheel and Kara’s push they narrowly missed being hit. 

Kara heard a sizzling and looked back at her cape, its edges seared from the plasma ball. 

Maybe Alex was right. “Can you get a signal to Mon-El?”

“Already done. Can you both scope out what we’re dealing with? Our ETA is…”

“Six minutes,” Vasquez filled in as she pressed the gas pedal down further. 

The truck crashed through a wood railing that marked the national park that encompassed these peaks. Vasquez clicked a few buttons on the dashboard and the truck adjusted to its new off road path. 

“Be careful,” Alex said.

Kara pushed off the truck into the air, watching the truck spin up dust as Vasquez dodged trees and bushes. Another projectile whizzed above, headed for the city. She lowered herself into a straight line and sped off at missile-like speed herself. 

She came over the ridge to the north of the area where the plasma balls were being launched. She found a large armored truck sitting in an open field just behind a rocky slope. A plasma cannon affixed to its rear. A single operator sat in a seat behind it, casually leaned back. He looked like the rider of a giant motorcycle, his arms up high and spread wide on the handles and feet perched in foot pedals at the base. Another member of his team sat on the edge of the truck below the canon with a computer in his lap. He typed something quickly and the canon above him rotated, the nose pointing lower and further toward the north part of the city. This same man put his hand up once the canon had settled into place and then, after a brief second, flicked the hand forward. His canon operator braced and then fired another shot. 

In total there were a dozen or so individuals, humans by the look of it, on top of the ridge. Behind the truck housing the canon, were two smaller jeeps, outfitted with armor plating. Kara tried to use her vision to see in them but they were lead lined. Each of these attackers sported a variety of brightly colored weapons that she had never seen before. Some were quite large, hanging in their owner’s hand with shoulder straps to help support it. Others had smaller pistol-like weapons in harnesses at their waist or thighs just as Alex did with her own alien pistol. 

She landed outside the open plain and peered around the tree which provided her cover. They were so focused on either the canon or each other that they had not noticed her. 

A loud thump behind her caused her to spin defensively. 

Mon-El pulled roughly at his own supersuit. He hated the way it fit so tightly to his body and complained every time he was forced to wear it. 

“What are we doing?”

“The city’s under attack, if you hadn’t noticed, so what do you think we’re doing?” She pulled him close to the tree next to her so that he wouldn’t be seen. Not that it mattered, the attackers had now spun the cannon to the south and were focused intensely there. “Alex will be coming up behind us in a few minutes. I need you to go meet them before they get all the way up the hill. Tell her there are 12 attackers, three CVs, and some sort of plasma cannon. Stay out of sight though!”

Without a word he slipped himself down the hill, bouncing from tree to tree to hide his retreat. 

She counted to ten and then came out from behind the tree. Her eyes filled with her orange heat and she aimed it right at the computer in the hands of the guy next to the cannon. It exploded in his hand and he yelped in pain and in shock. 

The men milling about reflexively formed a protective circle around the truck with the cannon. They were clearly trained, this was not some amateur get together. 

“Stop!” She commanded. “I don’t want to hurt any of you but I will if you don’t listen to me.”

They burst out into laughs. 

“The Girl of Steel. He said you would come.” A man close to one of the jeeps moved forward, his alien weapon focused right at her chest. “Do you really think we’re scared of you?”

He fired a single shot and she threw up her arm to deflect it. A searing pain went through her arm and her suit burned away. The skin beneath her suit tingled uncomfortably and changed to a grossly purple. She stumbled back, confused. It didn’t really hurt much but the fact that it caused her any pain at all was concerning. 

“Last warning!” She screamed back at them. 

The DEO trucks appeared over the hill behind. Mon-El hovered in the air above them. Within seconds, the DEO agents outnumbered the attackers two-to-one but this fact didn’t scare them. Rather it made them laugh again. 

“Bring it on, Supergirl,” the man said again. He pulled a round object from his belt and tossed it at her feet. 

Before she could register what it was, an explosion made her vision go white. She was knocked backwards, coughing from the smoke and dust that was kicked up. She felt like the whole front of her was on fire. 

Another ball rolled beneath Alex’s DEO truck and it’s explosion sent it flying up into the air. DEO agents scattered in every direction before it crashed back down. 

She pulled herself up and ran back into the tree line. A shot splintered the wood around above her head just as she slid behind a tree. Many of the DEO agents followed suit, and Alex rolled over to Kara’s tree barely avoiding a shot that made the grass catch fire. 

“They’re leaving,” Alex announced. 

Kara looked around the tree but had to pull back as another plasma shot whizzed by. Sure enough, the men already had the cannon lowered into its truck. Only a handful of them remained outside the vehicles providing cover. 

“We can’t let them go.” Alex cocked her gun and fired off two rounds, each hitting a different attacker that dropped instantly to the ground. 

Mon-El appeared behind them. “I’ll get the truck!”

“No! You stay here with them and help Alex protect them. I’ll get the truck,” Kara insisted. 

She flew up through the branches and then launched herself down onto the cannon’s truck. She pushed as hard as she could down on it, causing the tires to groan under the weight. But that didn’t stop the driver. The truck struggled forward down the hill, ricocheting off trees and boulders as it entered a wooded area. 

Another loud thump behind her caused her to flip. Mon-El was gripping on to the back of the truck. With both of their super strength pushing down, the tires popped and the truck lost traction. It skidded on the browned pine needles, struck a sizable rock at a weird angle, and toppled over. The truck was too top heavy to stay upright and slammed over on to its side. 

Kara slid off of the truck next to Mon-El. “I thought I told you to stay with Alex.”

“I was worried about you when I saw the truck skid down the hill.”

“I’m not fragile!”

“Tell that to your suit and skin,” he shot back. 

She looked down and saw that her skin was still purple and she had several holes in her suit now from the shots she had taken in her pursuit of the truck. 

Before she could get another word out, shouting and banging came from inside the truck. The sound of glass splintering came from the front and a man scampered out of the broken windshield. It was the same one who had taunted her before in the clearing. 

“Freeze!” she ordered. “It’s over so just stop!”

He put his hands up, his gun lost in the debris of the truck’s contents on the ground. “It’s just beginning, Supergirl,” he sneered. In his hand was some sort of device. He smashed his thumb down on it, as if pushing a button, and immediately started to seize. Foam spilled from his mouth as his body shook. He fell to his knees and then hit the ground with a loud thud as he went still. 

Those still trapped in the truck went silent too. 

“What the fuck?” Mon-El exclaimed. He rushed to the man and checked for a pulse. “He’s dead.”

“Do you hear that?” she asked. She didn’t care right now for the dead man. All she could focus on was the beeping from the truck. “Mon-El…”

He heard it too. “It’s going to blow!”

They both skidded down the hill side further but couldn’t escape the blast radius completely. A concussion wave hit them from behind, flinging them into the air. The heat was almost unbearable and then they hit the ground hard, falling back into cooler air. Mon-El hit a rock on his tumble down. It cracked on impact but stopped his fall. But Kara kept rolling, small trees and shrubs not enough to stop her momentum. At last her tumbling slowed enough for her to dig her hands into the ground and stop. She was several hundred yards down the ridge from where Mon-El stopped. 

She groaned and let her head rest in the pine needles. Every breath hurt and her body ached. Her suit sizzled in places and frayed in others. 

“Kara?” 

She heard the crack of a branch underfoot as Mon-El made his way down to her. His suit was severely damaged too and his usual cocky expression was gone, replaced with the realization that perhaps he wasn’t as invincible as he thought on this planet. 

“I’m fine. Give me a second.”

He laid next to her. 

“I told you to stay with Alex and the team,” she started on him again.

“You needed help with the truck.”

“I had it under control.”

“Uh huh.”

She sat up and stretched herself gingerly. Though she was irritated with him, she still took his hand and let him pull her up. 

They made their way slowly back up the ridge. The truck with the cannon was completely gone. All that remained were tiny pieces of smoldering debris. The entire wooded area was now a crater. 

“They made sure we wouldn’t get ahold of their weapons.”

“Or them,” Mon-El observed. And he was right, their bodies had been incinerated in the blast. 

At the top of the hill, they found two more craters where the jeeps had been. But some of the attackers had never made it to the vehicles. Their bodies, foam still dripping from their mouths, were being dragged to the DEO trucks by their agents. 

Vasquez caught sight of them and rushed forward to meet them. 

“Supergirl…”

“Are you guys okay?”

Vasquez swallowed hard. “It’s Alex, she was the closest to the blast.”

Kara glanced at Mon-El who was staring at the ground. “Where is she?”

“We’ve already evacuated her back to headquarters.”


	7. Chapter 7

“Are you okay?!” Kara rushed into the med wing of the DEO. Several DEO agents and staff scrambled out of her way, her look of determination and anger somehow even more intimidating by her damaged supersuit and her own battle wounds. “Alex, talk to me!”

“Calm down. It’s just a scratch,” Alex huffed. She was sitting on the edge of a hospital bed. Her tactical vest and shirt lay in a pile at her feet. Her black tank top was partially ripped, hanging off one of her shoulders. She already had a set of stitches at her hair line and one of the DEO doctors was now sewing up a gash on her upper arm. 

“These look like stitches, Alex!”

The DEO doctor tried to contain her smile. This wasn’t the first time she had sewn up Agent Danvers and it wouldn’t be the last. The injuries were minor but Supergirl was always fussing over Agent Danvers, all of them in fact, no matter how inconsequential the injuries were. 

Alex looked the doctor in the face with a look of a child who is embarrassed by a parent. “Tell her I’m fine.”

The doctor confirmed and started to examine Supergirl’s wounds. Although she had treated Agent Danvers more times than she could count, she had rarely had to treat Supergirl. But Supergirl wasn’t up for it and moved away from the doctor.

Kara didn’t look convinced by either the doctor or Alex. “I told Mon-El to stay back and protect all of you. I’m so tired of him not listening to me!”

“We’re all fine. Luckily only scrapes and bruising across the team.”

“That’s not the point and you know it.”

“I know. He’s going to have to answer to J’onn for what happened today,” Alex warned.

“Just great.” Kara groaned. This would cause more tension here at work and would cause her and Mon-El to fight more at home. Though not convinced of Alex’s ‘fine’ medical condition, she did want to move on with the conversation. “So what’s the damage? Do we have any leads?”

Alex picked up her shirt and vest and motioned for Kara to follow her out. “Luckily only two casualties. ‘Only’.” She shook her head. “The city hasn’t seen a coordinated attack like this since…well, you know...” She gestured at Kara who froze on the spot at the implication. 

“You think this has something to do with the prophecy?” They had not spoken about the prophecy to one another in the last five years. Kara was convinced she had chosen correctly but Alex, though agreeing with Kara’s choice overall, still worried about that choice. Kara’s unhappiness saddened her deeply and that sadness was growing every day.

“I don’t know. I don’t think so, really. It was a weak attack. They started at the city outskirts and targeted abandoned buildings and unpopulated areas. It was like they wanted the city to be forewarned. That’s why there were so few casualties. Everyone had time to take cover.”

Kara glared at her sister. Why bring up the prophecy if she thought it had nothing to do with it? “Were they human?”

“As far as we could tell. Nothing seems to indicate otherwise. What happened when you followed the truck?

Kara recounted her experience. “The thing that bothers me the most was that they were prepared to die. ‘It’s just the beginning’. Beginning of what?”

Alex shrugged. “Winn says there are only scraps left. Not enough to really do anything with. We did recover one gun though. Alien design but it could be human made. We’re unsure right now about the whole thing. I’d bet my salary that they were human, though.”

“Humans with alien weapons. And after it's been so peaceful.” Though she had had plenty of human perps to thwart over the last five years she hadn’t faced a mass alien threat since fulfilling the prophecy. Her first two years of being Supergirl were plagued by alien threats along with human ones. But since the prophecy, since her marriage to Mon-El she had had little interaction with villainous aliens threatening this planet. That meant she had chosen right. Right?

************************************************************************************

Kara was surprisingly calm when she got home, healed back to her normal by the sunlamps. The purple spots on her skin had healed instantly and the doctors, led by Alex, had cleared her of any internal damage. Whatever those alien weapons were they were enough to damage her and slow her down in a fight, but didn’t seem fatal. Alex recommended not taking a direct hit to the head though. And Winn promised he’d work on a new suit that wouldn’t be susceptible to the alien ammo. 

National City was calm too. In a way it made her feel calmer but the hairs on the back of her neck had not yet settled. The city had not seen an attack like this in years - five in fact - yet they continued about as if this was their normal. Maybe because the damage was really limited to empty buildings. The two casualties had been in car accidents because of the attack, and car accidents with deaths were not unusual in a city of this size. As she walked home the restaurants and bars were filled and people darted here and there with their errands before going home for the day. 

It was only as she entered the dark townhouse that she realized she had not heard from Mon-El since the attack. It was probably for the best but she was irritated that he had not come by the DEO to check in on Alex or even try to apologize for not listening to her during the attack. 

After washing away the grime of her day with a hot shower, she decided to call him. She had already ordered her dinner of Chinese take-out, eating alone was normal for her, and had selected a movie to wind down her night. If the rest of the city was going to move on then so was she. Mon-El picked up his phone on the last ring before it went to voicemail and just as she was about to hang up. She could hear loud music and several people laughing in the background.

“Are you at the bar?” she asked hotly. Then she cringed at her own obvious hostile question, fully aware that it was this interference and meddling that had been the cause of their argument earlier. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.”

“It’s fine. Yes, I’m at the bar. I’m covering a shift for Randal.” He sounded distracted and irritated. 

“I thought you would have come to the DEO or at least come home after today’s events,” she said. He did not respond immediately and she wondered if he had heard her. As she went to repeat herself, she heard him shout back at one of his co-workers and knew she had lost his attention. 

“Hey, I have to go. Don’t wait up for me.”

“Don’t forget you promised to go to Kelly’s birthday.” She pushed her dinner away from her as her appetite began to wane and irritation filled her stomach. “You said you were going to take the night off and come with me?”

“I forgot,” he said simply. “Plus the place is packed. The attack has made everyone want to drink so we’re going to be busy this weekend.” His lack of concern made her blood boil. He had increasingly pulled himself away from everything that she cared about ever since he had taken the job at the club. Whether it was her work as Supergirl, her work at CatCo, or time with her family and friends, he did not seem to care to integrate himself into her life any further. 

“You already missed their engagement dinner. And don’t you think you should perhaps check on Alex after what you did today?”

“You’re really going to be mad that I missed a party for two people I have to see all the time in my own house? And I called Winn and he said Alex was fine so lay off.”

“I bought this house so you mean to say in my house,” she fired back. “And that’s not the point. You keep missing–” She heard another person in the background yell at him and knew that no matter how much she wanted him to understand that now was not the time. 

He shouted back at whoever was talking to him at the club. “Look, I have to go. I’ll see you when I see you.”

The line went dead. Every ounce of her soul wanted to scream at him. She wanted to plead with him, to beg him to see her side of things but she let him go. Again. 

************************************************************************************

“Where’s Mon-El?” Alex asked, trying to sound casual. She had gotten Kara’s text that morning that she was coming to the party alone. She had to admit that she was relieved her sister was flying solo because she knew she was still upset about the attack. And she had every right to be. Though she was fine, as a leader she would be pissed if anyone had disobeyed her like that resulting in a team member getting hurt. The day-to-day tension between Kara and Mon-El infected them all constantly as it was and Alex was set on making this a happy occasion. She was finding it increasingly harder to keep her mouth shut about her sister’s obvious unhappiness at Mon-El’s hands and to restrain Kelly who had already lost her ability to keep quiet about the situation. “Working?”

Kara gave her an over-enthusiastic smile and tried to sound casual as she uncovered the party trays of food and set out plastic ware. But they both knew it was a cover up. “Oh yeah! Now that they’ve made him a manager he’s super busy. And he said people have been flocking to the bar even with the attack.”

“People want to drink when shit gets crazy,” Alex raised her beer bottle and cheered the universe. “I’m sure he would have joined us if he could have. Is he going to the game with us on Sunday?”

Kara awkwardly adjusted her glasses and played with the label on her own beer bottle. “No, he’ll be working then too.”

Alex studied her sister for a moment. She tried not to get her hopes up but she prayed these were the indications of a soon-to-be break-up. Fuck the prophecy. She would rather fight fate than to see Kara waste her life away like this. Her previous belief that even though Mon-El was not the best match for Kara they could make a happy relationship had long gone out the window. She pulled one of the kitchen island stools over and took Kara’s hand. “Well, that’s unfortunate. Doesn’t it bother you that he’s not here? That he always seems to be working when you want to do things?”

“Sometimes,” Kara said sadly. “But we’re both working and I have no right to tell him he’s too busy. Supergirl duty interrupts us all the time and I know that is frustrating to him.”

“Being Supergirl and saving people is a lot more important than serving drinks. It's just...his timing always seems very opportunistic.” Alex paused, unsure if she should continue. Her next question would be painful and was probably not appropriate right before the party but she knew she was not the only one with the question. Both Kelly and James had brought it up to her, each in their own way. And her and Kara had so few moments alone anymore. “Are you sure he is where he says he is, with who he says he’s with?”

Kara knew exactly what she was getting at and ripped her hand out of Alex’s. “That’s a really crappy thing to say, Alex! And it's totally unnecessary! I can’t believe that you...him...what you are insinuating is ridiculous!”

“Maybe it’s not so ridiculous. Maybe this is why you are trying to act so shocked,” Alex hissed back. She glanced toward her and Kelly’s bedroom, hoping that she didn’t hear the outburst. Kara took the hint and they were both silent for a moment trying to let their tempers cool. “You’ve thought about it, at least. I can tell by how you are trying to deflect it. You deserve better, Kara. Even if he isn’t cheating, you deserve someone who will spend time with you outside of sex.”

“Can we just drop it?” Kara helped herself to another beer out of the refrigerator. She was in no mood to defend Mon-El tonight and she knew she would have to explain the situation again later when their friends arrived. 

************************************************************************************

It was a lively party. The apartment was full of dearly loved friends and family. Good food, good drinks, and good company. It was exactly what they all needed after the attack. Alex sat back with a small smile and watched the scene before her, her eyes seeking out her favorite people naturally. James and J’onn were in a deep conversation about God knows what. Whatever it was she knew it was too serious for this party and wished they would take one night off and enjoy themselves. They were there, though, and that was all that mattered to her. Vasquez and Winn were having an arm wrestling competition closely monitored by Kelly. Alex laughed out loud as Vasquez took a casual swig of beer, her arm strong and still, while Winn looked like he was about to give birth as he tried with all of his might to make Vasquez’s arm budge. 

Her smile faltered as her eyes found Kara standing behind a group of Kelly’s friends from Obsidian, alone at the bay window. She was twirling her mother’s necklace through her fingers and was lost in thought. Alex wanted to go over, to comfort her, but she knew from their argument earlier that they were at a standstill. Alex wanted to deck Mon-El and tell him to start treating her sister right. She’d love to get him in the training room with some Kryptonite and put him in his place. She also wanted to get Kara to see reason about their relationship. She knew Kara was pressuring him to be in the moment with her about their relationship but Alex knew that she was also going about it in the wrong way though at this point she didn’t see how they could change the dynamic. 

Kara too was thinking about her situation. She wondered why Alex’s comments had upset her so much. Was Alex’s question really lurking beneath the surface in herself? Was that why she was so angry at him not committing to their own relationship? Did she really believe that he was cheating on her? Surely she would know, she could sense it somehow. Is that what this ball of anxiety that had settled in her chest was? It just hurt so much to defend him day in and day out. It was obvious to her family and her friends that he should be there at her side, and it was so obvious to her too. This wasn’t just some Earthly custom that he could claim ignorance on. This was more about being a person and being supportive. She did not know if she could handle the fury that was building inside her at the fact that he was never there. 

She thought about it all the way home that night. She had fought off all attempts by Alex and Kelly to have her stay with them that night. But being the outsider to the happy couple did nothing but fuel the fury that was ever growing. By the time she was back home she was boiling with rage. She sat and stewed about Mon-El as she tried to distract herself with her newest article. Not being able to focus and making more spelling mistakes than she usually did, she resigned herself to calling him. She knew her checking in on him would most likely create more tension between them but she had to know. Maybe just hearing that he was at work would be enough to settle her down. Maybe she could convince him to come home and he would apologize for his distance. Maybe they could sit down and put it all on the table and come to some resolution. 

He did not answer and she did not dare to call again. Two missed calls was definite nagging behavior. 

After an hour she checked her phone. Nothing from him. But she did notice that last call would have already happened and Mon-El would be finishing his shift if he was in fact there. Why wait for him to come to her when she could go to him? She grabbed her purse and jacket and started to rehearse what she was going to say to him. 

The bar was empty of any customers when she entered. She looked around the bar for Mon-El. The other employees were mopping or cleaning tables. A bus boy came from the kitchen with an empty tub and started loading up more dishes from the tables. One of the other managers was in front of the POS system working out the night’s numbers. They were all working hard at wrapping up their night. But they were all also giving her uneasy side glances.

Randal, one of the bartenders and Mon-El’s closest friend, froze when he saw her standing in the door. She smiled and waved but he stood in absolute fear in front of her. Her smile faltered and she brought her hand down slowly in embarrassment. She approached the bar with apprehension. “Hey…”

“What are you doing here?” he stammered out. 

Mon-El’s friends had never been completely welcoming of her but they had never treated her rudely like this before. “I came to walk Mike home. Are you guys wrapping up?”

“Um, he’s already gone. You must have just missed him.”

“Oh.” That was odd. She hadn’t seen him on her walk over and she had taken his usual route. Her stomach knotted tighter. “Thanks anyway.”

She left quickly, feeling as if the whole bar knew something she did not. She thought for a moment and then started down a different street. This was the only other plausible route Mon-El would take home. And he must be on his way home because all of his friends were still there at the bar so he couldn’t be staying with one of them like he did on so many nights. 

In the dead of night there was no one out on the streets. She was the only moving being and the sound of her boots on the concrete was the only sound other than the click of pedestrian walk signal at each intersection. She cursed herself for even trying. 

As she went to cross the next intersection, faint voices and laughter drew her attention down the opposite street. Kara focused her vision, just to make sure it was no one in distress and nearly choked with what she saw.

It was Mon-El and Imra, the owner of the bar. He pushed her up against the building, picking her up off the ground as he did and wrapping her legs around him with ease. She laughed and playfully swatted at him. He said something which made her laugh some more and then he kissed her. When he pulled back he said something again which made them both laugh. Imra dropped her legs back to the ground and pulled him up the steps into the building, both of them shedding their clothes as the door slammed behind them.

Kara swallowed and tried to take a breath but her lungs wouldn’t fill. After a moment of staring at the now closed building door, she pulled her jacket around her tighter and crossed the street to go back home. 

************************************************************************************

Kara tried to pay attention to the news on the television but her thoughts were too loud and too distracting. It had been two days since Kelly’s birthday party. Two days since she had seen with her own eyes that Mon-El was in fact cheating on her. He hadn’t been home since that night, since the attack two days before that night in fact, but he had texted that he would be home tonight. He hadn’t shown up after what would have been the end of his delivery job. He hadn’t shown up in time for dinner. She wondered if he would show up in the middle of the night to avoid her. She eventually resigned herself to curling up on the couch and waiting. 

Nearly an hour later she finally heard his boots stomping up the stairs and only when she heard his key in the door did she sit up. He smiled sheepishly, like he knew he was going to try and get away with his absences from the last few days. He walked over to her and tried to give her a peck on the top of her head but she rose from the couch and stepped away from him. She searched his eyes as if she could find the answers to her questions there but there were none.

He looked confused but she couldn’t make out anything else in the depths of his brown eyes. For a long moment they stared at one another in silence. The silence was always uncomfortable for him. He preferred to keep moving, to keep doing, to never settle into a moment, and this unexpected silence soured his mood immediately.

“What’s wrong now?” he asked. He had been quite happy that she had backed off the last couple of days. It was about time she left him alone about dinners, work, relationship things, and whatever else she could use to trap him into the lifestyle she wanted. 

“You tell me, Mon-El.” It was short and direct. She gave no indication of the waves of anger churning within her. Her exterior instead was cold as stone. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Kara could see the muscles in his neck tense, a sure sign that this was going to be a battle. Finally. Nothing was going to be left unsaid, everything was about to be exposed no matter how painful. “I have a feeling that you’ve been up to something. Something that may explain why you are so quick to push our relationship aside unless it suits you.”

“Like what exactly?” He was getting angry. And his response was confirmation enough that he knew that she knew. He had been caught and he sensed it. Randal had said she had come by the bar but he didn’t think there would be any real way of her knowing where he had been. He defaulted to his usual tactic and acted like he was the victim. “I don’t have any idea of what you are talking about.”

“Yes, you do.” This was becoming exhausting and she was done with it. “You know exactly what I mean. You’re just not sure how much I know or how I know it. To be honest, I’m not even sure how much I know.” She crossed her arms and looked at him coolly. “How long have you been cheating on me? Is it just with Imra or have there been others during our marriage?” All of the pain she felt for the last forty-eight hours punctuated every word she said. 

“What are you even talking about, Kara?” He raised his voice, and tried to turn the tables on her by making her feel ignorant and wrong. 

“Does this make you nervous? Because it should,” she growled. “I don’t understand it though.”

“I haven’t cheated on you! You don’t know what you’re talking about!” He was trying his best to look confused. He did not dare let his anger go. He could now see that she was seething and he knew when it came down to it that he was no match for her – her powers had always been superior to his. 

“I saw you and Imra in front of her building,” she snarled. “You don’t even kiss me like that.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about, Kara,” he tried again.

She shook her head in disbelief. He was going to play the victim until the end. “Fine. You want to play stupid, then play stupid. But two nights ago I went to the bar after you wouldn’t answer my calls. I mean that is why you said you couldn’t come with me to Kelly’s party, because you had to work. When I got there, you weren’t behind the bar, you weren’t back in the office, and your co-workers seemed awfully nervous to see me looking for you. They told me you had already left.” 

His face was becoming paler at each word she uttered but he did not dare take his eyes off of her. 

“As I was leaving,” she continued, “I thought that maybe you were on your way home, that I had just missed you. As I was walking home I saw you down the street going into an apartment building with Imra. I think you know what I saw that night!”

“You had no right to invade my privacy like that and check in on me!” 

“And you had no right to cheat on me!”

“You had no business being there, Kara! This is exactly what we’ve been fighting over for weeks now.” He finally turned away from her. He ran his hand irritably through his hair trying to figure a way out of this. “I don’t just show up on you.”

“You’re right! You never show up for me at all! Even when I ask you, beg you to be there!”

“I don’t owe you any explanations for my affairs, you have no right to meddle in my life. You are my wife, not my boss. But that’s what bothers you, isn’t it? The fact that I want to maintain my independence. You don’t own me and neither does your family or your friends or the DEO!”

She had never fully understood him until that moment. She had always excused his behavior with anything and everything she could. He was an immigrant to a strange world with different customs, he was raised in a culture of slave-owning narcissists. But this, his behavior and his need to have everything his way, was just  _ him _ . He succeeded in one thing in this argument: he finally made her feel stupid. The signs were all there. And all those around her tried to warn her. 

“I never wanted to own you, Mon-El. I just wanted to love you and have whatever of a normal life was possible. I never expected to own you nor did I want you to feel as if my family or the DEO was doing so.”

“But maybe I don’t want a normal life. Did you ever think about that? Maybe I want the life that was stolen from me because of your people and your planet.”

“So what was I? A revenge fuck that you accidentally married? A way to get back at Krypton? You took advantage of me.” This emotional pain was far worse than anything else she had ever felt. “I did everything I could to make you feel welcome here. How you’ve treated me, all of us who have tried to help you, it’s not fair.”

“Haven’t you learned that nothing is fair? Or are you still so eager to see the good in the universe? And don’t start with me about fair. You’ve never loved me like you loved her.”

The accusation was like a slap in the face. “What?”

“You heard me. You think you’ve had it hard because of what I’ve done? Try competing with someone who isn’t even here, who you don’t even talk to anymore! I’ve had to share you with the ghost of a relationship that never was.”

She scoffed at him. “I can’t believe we’ve wasted five years trying to force this relationship.”

“You were the only one forcing things,” he snipped back at her. “And  _ I _ didn’t waste the last five years.”

“Get out!” She truly meant it. This could not be her fate. The universal was cruel but she could not allow herself to believe it was this cruel. The prophecy had to be wrong; it had to be for someone else and not her. Or it was not Mon-El but someone else she should have been with. She had already paid too much to the universe and could not make herself give anymore in this way.

For the first time Mon-El was wise enough not to say a word. They had had so many arguments and he always got the last word but this time it must have clicked with him. There was something in her eyes this time like a blossom of acceptance and freedom. She would not take him back. She knew it and he did as well. There would be no more reconciliations. She would not give or change one more piece of herself for him in this relationship. In a way that terrified him. He always got what he wanted and some piece of him, however small, still wanted her. But she would never be enough, she would never be right. She would always be the wind and he was tired of trying to catch her and mold her to his own needs. 

He reached into his pocket and dug out his keys. When his house key was loose from the ring he put it on the coffee table between them and turned without another word. There was nothing left to say.

After the sounds of his footsteps had disappeared down the street, she sat back down on the couch, curling around a pillow as if it could keep her together. Only then did she allow herself to cry. The tears had built up through the argument and had threatened to spill at the mention of Lena but she had kept it together. He was a miserable excuse of a being but somehow she had told herself repeatedly over the last five years that she was wrong about him. And perhaps she was partially to blame. She had started the relationship knowing full well that she would never love him like she did Lena and that was unfair to him. Keeping the prophecy from him added to that guilt. Yet she still felt hurt, a deep pain at how he had used her and how she had let him do it. There was no hiding the fact that she had spent the last five years defending him and their toxic relationship when she knew deep in her core that it was wrong. And she was embarrassed. She thought back to all the times that she had excused his behavior and his words and how stupid everyone must have thought she was for doing so. Regardless, she knew she was better off without him, that she had always been better than he was and that he’d never be the hero she wanted him to be. But what hurt the most was that this was her own doing. She had chosen Mon-El over Lena. She had done it not for herself but for fate, and she had broken not only her own heart but Lena’s as well. She hurt the one person she swore never to hurt, to always protect and be there for, all because of fate. And at this moment she was not sure if the price she was paying for that choice was worth it.

It took all of her strength to drag herself to bed hours later. The guilt of Lena, of Mon-El, and now the world was hanging above her like the blade of the guillotine. She stared at Mon-El’s empty side of the bed. There had been a time where she thought she could have faked this relationship easily. They had had some good moments together just not enough to create a happy and stable relationship. As her sobs wracked her body she knew she was as much to blame if not more for this situation. She too was a liar and had deceived him. 

With what energy she had left, she picked up her phone and hit the top number of her favorites. After two rings a confused voice answered on the other end. “Alex,” she said in between sobs, “I need you.”


	8. Chapter 8

Alex had been there for her all that night and the next day. She didn’t gloat that she was right in suspecting Mon-El was cheating. She didn’t fly into a rage and threaten the DEO against Mon-El either, which is what she normally would have done. Instead, she held Kara close and let her cry herself to sleep. The next day she was surprisingly silent. The only time she left Kara’s side was to brief J’onn on the situation. She could tell he was angry too but he also knew what she did: the fate of this world was on the shoulders of Kara and Mon-El’s relationship and they would have to find a way to make it work. 

Kara knew it too and that was partly why she was sad. That, and that she had let herself be hurt in this way and hurt Mon-El too. She had gone about this all wrong. Looking back she should have just told Mon-El about the prophecy from the start and maybe they could have avoided the last five years of tension and stress. He was a cheating ass, there was no doubt about that - it was just who he was, but she had opened the door for it to happen and she only had herself to blame. 

When she pulled herself together, her and Alex planned out what to do. It was time that Mon-El knew the truth and they’d have to come to some agreement for the relationship. She tried calling but he didn’t answer. 

_ Kara: Can we talk? In person if possible _

She didn’t hear from him for three days. On the third night, she was laying on the couch, numb and confused at what to do in the case that he didn’t respond, when he knocked on the front door. 

“Hi.” He didn’t look pleased to be there but he was there nonetheless and for that she gave him some credit.

“Hey. Can I come in?”

She opened the door wider and let him enter. “Yeah. We need to talk.”

“I know.” He didn’t remove his jacket and didn’t move toward the living room. He stood with his hands in his jeans and forced the conversation to happen right there. 

She turned and walked into the living room. She knew this was going to be a long conversation and she wanted space instead of being cramped in the foyer. His footsteps sounded hesitant behind her but she pushed forward. 

She didn’t know where to start. Her mouth opened and closed as she tried but there was so much that needed to be said and if not presented correctly he could leave and they would be seriously jeopardizing the prophecy. “We need to talk about how to make this marriage work.” 

His eyes widened and his eyebrows shot up. Whatever he had been expecting her to say was definitely not that. “Are you serious?”

“I am. Mon-El, there is a lot you don’t know and that’s what we need to discuss.”

“To be honest with you, I don’t even really know why I married you in the first place. I think I was just looking for someone to remind me of my previous life and you were the closest I could get at the time - you were the only alien I knew at the time,” he scoffed. “And J’onn had hinted that I’d never be out on my own and since you were one of my keepers it seemed like a win-win, get the girl and get away from the DEO.”

Her heart clenched in pain. She didn’t love him. She never had, in fact. But rejection, even from someone you despise, still hurts. And this rejection brought up old feelings of being an outcast, and not wanted. And his response was surprising. For the beginning of their relationship, at least, she thought he had had genuine feelings for her which is why she tried to convince herself to love him back and make it work. 

“Did you ever have feelings for me?” It wasn’t fair to ask him that when she knew if he asked her the same her response would be no.

“At first. Ever since we got married you have become different. You’re not the Kara I first met. Everyone else says it too, it’s not just me.”

“I know,” she agreed though she wondered who exactly the ‘everyone’ was referring to. “But I can explain if you’ll let me.”

“Hell, I don’t even know why you married me. I asked you that once. Do you remember? You flew away because Supergirl was conveniently needed.” 

“I want to apologize for that. I should have answered your question then and there. Things may be less complicated now if I had.”

He laughed pitifully. “I get it. You think I’m an idiot. You still do. Why do you want to make this marriage work?”

“No, that’s not what I’m saying.” But it was a piece of it. There was no point going into a full fight with him so she tried to play it down. “I can be strong and stand my ground when it comes to saving other people. When it’s saving myself, though, I struggle. A lot. I don’t like being vulnerable. And the comfort of other people has always been more important to me than my own comfort.”

“So? What’s your point?”

“My point is in that moment I thought it was better hiding the truth from you so it didn’t hurt your feelings. Will you please let me explain?”

She sat down gingerly on the edge of the coffee table, indicating for him to sit across from her. 

There was an awkwardness in the air. They both knew this marriage was a scam now. Despite this, they were both down this path together and it was time for something to be done about it. He sensed this too and sighed as he shed his jacket and sat down.

“Do you remember when you first came to Earth and there were those strange attacks?”

“Vaguely.”

“There were three attacks and in each attack I was given a message and had three strange relics.”

His eyebrows were knitted. “One of them was at that gala where we danced. And that night there was that imp who was hitting on you.”

“Yes.” She rolled her eyes. “That imp, Mxy, told us the messages were pieces of a prophecy.”

This caught Mon-El’s full attention. “A prophecy. About what?”

She recited the prophecy to him as if she was spouting off her own name. It was as if it had been burned permanently into her memory. 

Mon-El was silent for several moments after she had finished, analyzing it for himself. “I don’t understand. What does it mean?”

“Well, we didn’t either, not fully anyway. Alex and I had our guesses but it wasn’t until Mxy that we realized it was a prophecy and that it referred to you and me.”

He was shocked for the second time that night. “Us? How do you get that?”

She said the prophecy again and emphasized the lines that she and Alex, with Mxy’s help, had interpreted as meaning her and Mon-El. 

After he mulled over the words he finally nodded his head. “I guess that makes sense.”

“You were right the other night. At the time of the prophecy I was in love with Lena. And I don’t think I have ever gotten over those feelings but I chose you because I was choosing to save Earth and whatever other  _ worlds _ the prophecy is referring to.”

He laughed again but this time it was not for himself but the mess they together found themselves in. “So I guess we’re both liars.”

“Yeah, I guess we are.” She swallowed hard. He was right, of course. Even though she deceived him to save the world at its core this relationship was still a lie. “I’m sorry I lied to you. But it was the only way to save Earth and it is the only way to keep Earth safe going forward. We thought it best to keep the prophecy from as many people as possible to avoid a panic or interference from others on the interpretation. But I should have told you. I shouldn’t have lied to you or deceived you. A part of me thought that I could make this relationship work and be happy since you seemed happy with me in the beginning.” 

He went quiet again, not looking at her but with his face in his hands. He finally raised his head and addressed her. “We’re really different.”

“We are.” She agreed in confusion. She wasn’t sure where he was going with this line of thought. “But we have to find a way to make this work.”

“I’m super fun, always wanting excitement and adventure,” he said boastfully. 

She rolled her eyes.

“You’re hypercritical and controlling,” he continued. “But at least you admit that everyone else is more important. Glad it wasn’t just me knowing I was at the bottom of your priority list.”

“Mon-El…”

“So what now? I don’t want to keep living like this.”

She scoffed. “And you think I do?”

He studied her for a moment. At last he sighed heavily and stood. “We’ll have to figure out how to do this.”

This time the surprise was on her. “You’re up for this?”

“You may think I’m a prick but surely you don’t think I’d pick myself over the fate of this planet.”

“You’re right. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.” 

“I did love you,” he said, suddenly soft and full of emotion. “In the beginning. From about the time we danced at that gala up until we got married. You were better at faking your feelings for me then so I was convinced it went both ways.”

“I’m so sorry, Mon-El. I never meant to hurt you.” 

“I’m sorry I didn’t respect our relationship.”

“I think it is safe to say we’re both in the wrong in many different ways in this scenario.”

“Now what?” He threw his hands up. “What’s the definition of marriage for this prophecy? Do we just stay married? Do we have to be exclusive? What’s the criteria here?”

“I don’t know but we’ve got to figure out how to be happy while staying married. This,” she motioned between the two of them, “has to work.”

“On Daxam we didn’t have arranged marriages like Krypton. We also were more flexible with affairs and such.” He stopped and examined her for a response. When he got none he continued. “I want to be able to keep seeing other people as in friends and...other...ways.”

Kara swallowed and mulled it over. “Okay. I don’t know what type of marriage the prophecy is referring to but I don’t see why that would undo any of it.”

“I wouldn’t care if you started seeing someone else, you know?”

She laughed at this. “Thanks for the permission.” Her laughter seemed to ease the sudden tension to his confession. “What else?”

“I want to be able to come and go as I please without being made to feel like a child. I don’t want a babysitter or a boss.”

“Deal. But I have conditions too.”

He nodded and waited. 

“We have to keep up every pretense of this relationship. That means you going to family events and spending some time here with me.”

“I will agree to schedule time spent here and do events with your friends and family as long as I’m notified ahead of time.”

“I’ll do my best to make sure of that.” 

“And you can’t hound me if I say no, alright?”

She bit her tongue. “Okay. But you have to actually try participating in this relationship.”

He gave another nod of agreement. “Anything else?”

“After you’re with another person, you don’t come to our bed. You have to sleep in the guest room. And no one outside of this relationship is allowed in this house.”

He didn’t look her in the eye this time as he agreed. 

“I think that’s it,” she wrapped up. 

“Can I have my key back?”

It was still on the coffee table that she was sat on, where he had left it days ago. She held it out for him. 

He looked nervous as if he was unsure whether he should take it. But he finally took it from her, letting his fingers graze hers, and put it back on his key ring with the others. “Do you want to maybe go grab a burger or something?”

This was her life now. In some ways it felt better that it was all out in the open but she also knew that getting used to this would take some time. She finally smiled and said yes to dinner.

He had stayed with her at the house after they ate at the diner around the corner. They watched television for a bit and she worked a little on an article she should have had to James two days prior. A little after ten he asked if it was okay if he stayed and she said of course. He got up and went to their bedroom, cracking the door behind him.

Around midnight she had a finished article. She wasn’t thrilled with it but it would do. She stretched and turned off the television that Mon-El had left on when he had gone to bed. She picked up his jacket and hung it by the door. She crept into their bedroom and completed her nightly routine. 

She finally slipped into bed beside him after she turned off the bathroom light, and lay listening to the rhythm of his breathing in the darkness. A small part of her wanted to reach out to his face. She had hurt them both and put them in an impossible situation but he was noble enough to stick around with her through it though his conditions lacked any grace or consideration for her feelings. Whether she loved him or not, they were in this together and she was grateful he was staying by her side. Perhaps with it all out on the table, no more deception and agreement to their new relationship terms, this would be easier for them both. 

The sun was just starting to peak over the horizon when sleep at last took her into dreams filled with the prophet’s voice and the sound of Lena calling out for her help.

****

By Thanksgiving, things had settled down as best as they could. Alex was devastated for Kara being chained to a relationship with no love, but she at least understood. She told Kara that Mon-El was right in that she should see someone else but also agreed with Kara that this was complicated enough and an additional person in this web of confusion wouldn’t help matters. 

None of their other friends understood, though. Because Mon-El didn’t have to hide his relationship from Kara anymore, this made him careless one night. He let something slip about Imra to Winn and before they knew it their whole friend group realized what was going on. Mon-El had apologized profusely, and Kara didn’t think he had said something just to be boastful or arrogant - she believed it was a true accident. They worked out how to get it back underwraps but no matter what they did or said the damage was done. James was told the truth as he was one of the few who knew about the prophecy. He, just like Alex, understood but still hated it for Kara. He promised to be accepting of Mon-El but was cold in any interactions they had. 

Kelly was the most outraged. She was still, somehow, in the dark about Kara being Supergirl and did not know anything about the prophecy. She implored Kara to seek out one of her marriage and family therapist friends and was upset when Kara had only agreed to think about it. This had caused a major fight between Kelly and Alex as Kelly didn’t understand how Alex could sit back and not help her sister. It was eventually put aside so as not to corrupt their own relationship. Alex had simply told Kelly that it was none of their business and they had to stay out of it. Kelly still insisted that Kara and Mon-El speak with her therapist friend and she agreed to try to be accepting of Kara’s choice though she was unsuccessful, like her brother, of hiding her dislike of the situation and Mon-El. 

Winn, who intimately knew the prophecy and Kara’s choice, had even developed a cold shoulder toward Kara. He also didn’t go on anymore of Mon-El’s boys nights out which had hurt Mon-El’s feelings as Winn was his closet of the group. 

They both had convinced themselves that because they were accepting of each other and their situation that everyone else would as well and it was disheartening when it didn’t happen that way. When Kara and Mon-El had shown up to James’s halloween party, holding each other’s hand and in perfectly choreographed couples costumes it had almost ruined the entire event. And she suspected that the only reason her and Mon-El had been invited to Thanksgiving this year was because it was at Alex and Kelly’s place and therefore Eliza, who knew nothing about the situation, would be coming and expecting to see her daughter and son-in-law. 

Now that there was an agreement between them, Mon-El seemed more free. He didn’t fight with her as much as he previously had and was more open to planning couple time. Kara had to admit that with it all out in the open they were actually happier together which is why it was frustrating no one else would understand their choice. 

But, the first time Mon-El had openly declared he was going to Imra’s it had shaken her to the core. Per their agreement she didn’t fuss or even argue about it. She put on her best smile and told him she’d see him for dinner the next night. After the door had shut and she knew he was gone, she still broke down. He so easily went about his other life but she wasn’t sure she could figure out how to do the same. Even though with Mon-El on her side and their lies out in the open, she was still lonely. 

And she still missed Lena with all her heart. 

************************************************************************************

Christmas was fast approaching. And with it came a season of anti-alien sentiment. The unusual attack of the flaming plasma balls had, at first, seemed not to bother the people of National City. As time wore on, whispers of groups gathering underground were starting to surface. Soon flyers and billboards advertising for the reversal of the Aliens Equality Act were everywhere. Protesters formed outside City Hall and with each day their numbers grew. No matter what CatCo published or what politicians said to the public, the movement was gathering momentum. 

“Are we sure this isn’t Cadmus?” Kara asked one afternoon while pacing the DEO. 

“We haven’t heard from Cadmus in five years, since your marriage to Mon-El. Why would that have changed?” J’onn asked. 

“I don’t know. This just feels like them.”

Alex didn’t discount what Kara was saying. Kara’s instincts were usually in the ballpark so if Kara felt a Cadmus connection then perhaps there was one. But she also agreed with J’onn. “Ever since the attack we’ve been keeping an eye on the DEO’s biggest list of agitators, one of which is Lillian Luthor. There is nothing out of the ordinary. No odd trips, no unusual spending, typical movements for a billionaire socialite. If she is up to something it would be a huge cover up. Lex is still in jail. And L-Corp and…” she looked away and mumbled the rest, “Lena aren’t doing anything suspicious either.”

Kara slumped down into her folded arms on the central command workstation. Of course Lena wouldn’t be up to anything wrong. She had told them time and time again that Lena wasn’t bad and L-Corp under her leadership wouldn’t be involved in anything shady. “It still feels like Cadmus. The diction, the plasma attack. It all reeks of Cadmus.”

“Whether you want to admit it or not, there are a lot of anti-alien groups. It could be any number of them,” J’onn said. “Perhaps you are so quick to jump to Cadmus because of your recent relationship...issues. You have the prophecy and therefore Cadmus on the brain. NCPD has been monitoring the protests. While they are becoming quite large, they have been relatively peaceful and contained. That’s not Cadmus’ MO.”

She looked at Alex with pleading eyes. 

Alex sighed and rolled her own. “Alright, I’ll have Winn look closer at Cadmus while he’s checking out all of the anti-alien groups.”

Kara nodded in thanks. “I’m going to CatCo. Call me if you find anything.”

****

The lobby of the CatCo building was fully decorated for the holiday season. Noonan’s was too, with red and green streamers and ‘Happy Holidays’ printed on every cup and receipt. A group of singers were in the spacious ground floor foyer singing carols to raise money for children in need. Everyone was in the holiday spirit, laughing and making plans. Everyone except for her. 

With her coffee in hand, she made her way to the prep station to doctor her cup up just the way she liked in hopes of making herself feel a bit better. A man joined her across the station and smiled brightly at her. She tried to return it but was distracted by the television behind him where footage of the City Hall protests were happening. 

She turned to the barista. “Could you turn the volume up?”

“...where the leader of this protesting group has asked to make an announcement. We are waiting now for it to begin,” the newscaster said as she stepped out of the frame revealing a lone podium and microphone at the bottom of the stairs to City Hall. 

A man, middle-aged, came forward from the crowd and raised his hands in a request for silence. Once he got it he cleared his throat and stepped up to the microphone. “You were warned. And yet you’ve done nothing. Now not only will the aliens pay but all of you non-believers will too!”

City Hall erupted behind the man, exploding outward and then crumbling in on itself. The news station cameraman fell to the ground with the rest of the crowd but the camera kept rolling. There were shouts of surprise but Kara realized that most were from the other customers of Noonans, not the protestors. The people on the footage began to cheer and shed their jackets and winter wear. This group of seemingly normal people were in fact armed, full armor suits and weapons, colored just like the ones from the earlier plasma attack.

Before Kara could fully register what she was seeing, a purple plasma ball struck right outside of the building and crashed through one of Noonan’s windows. People screamed and scattered as the plasma ball caught everything in its path on fire. 

Kara ducked behind a partition and switched to her supersuit. When she emerged, her new plasma proof suit ready, she put out the flames. On the street she found a much larger attack than the one previously. Plasma balls were falling across the entire city, being shot at incredible speeds and clearly from more than one plasma cannon this time. Every building was taking damage and just within her eyesight she saw massive injuries. 

She flew up into the sky, dodging plasma balls as they rained down. She trusted Winn and her new suit but still preferred not to take a direct hit. Once above the arcs of the projectiles she could see that most of the city was on fire. The biggest plume of smoke was coming from the City Hall explosion. 

She had to get to the DEO. 

She oriented herself south, toward the DEO’s downtown headquarters dodging plasma balls as she angled to a lower altitude to land on the DEO’s balcony. Over the attack she could hear rumbling jeeps and saw what had to be several DEO teams leaving base. Before she could use her vision to locate the convoy that held Alex she was thrown out of the air and into a building in a blast of light and debris. She crashed through the window and skidded to a stop several hundred feet within it. The people of this particular company must have already evacuated for all she found was an empty office area and the trail of destruction her tumble into had made. She walked back toward the window she crashed through and gasped. 

The top half of the DEO was gone. 

What remained of the building was slowly crumbling down to the levels of the organization that were beneath the ground. But the command center located on the level with the balcony was gone. 

“Alex?” she gasped into her earpiece. “Alex, can you hear me?”

“I’m here,” Alex reported. “We’re trying to get everyone out.”

Supergirl breathed out a sigh of relief. “Where are you?”

“J’onn evacuated everyone to the tunnels. We’re splitting up, and trying to split up all of our resources. We can’t let them get a hold of some of our stores or you.”

“Who? Who did this?” She looked across the city from the broken window and saw more buildings start to crumble as their foundations burned. “Alex, it’s all…”

“You were right.” There was a pause. “It’s Cadmus.”

“No. But, Alex, I didn’t really think—”

“You were right,” Alex said again. “Where are you?”

“But the prophecy!”

“Fuck the prophecy right now, Kara! Where are you?”

“I’m in the building across the street. Northwest corner from the DEO. The blast threw me back.”

“Cadmus issued a warning right before the attack. They are going to destroy every alien and continue to fire on humans until they side against the aliens. ‘Alien’ includes you. You have to stay back.”

“People are dying! I can’t stay back!”

“Supergirl, listen to me. We’ve got to get all of this alien technology we have in the DEO hidden before they can take it. And we can’t let them get to you.”

“I’m coming to help.”

“No, Supergirl.”

But Supergirl had already pushed out of the building and was flying toward what was left of the DEO. She swooped down to ground level and ran into the parking garage. She had only been in the tunnels beneath the DEO once but she thought she remembered how to get to them. Using a back door and a catacomb of hallways she finally found a DEO agent running a cart of what looked like alien weapons down a passage. She went the opposite direction, toward the room the agent had come out of and found Alex and a small group of agents packing up a vaulted room. 

“What can I do?”

Alex spun at her voice. “I need you to listen to me. You have to stay hidden. They are coming for everything we got and at this point we don’t have the military or NCPD to back us up.”

“Okay. But let me help you all get this stuff out of here.”

“We need her for the Fortress of Solitude room!” Vasquez yelled across the room. She was standing at a doorway that led into another vault. 

Alex gritted but agreed. “Alright, help Vasquez get that stuff and then we’re out of here.”

“Fortress of Solitude? What’s in here?” Supergirl asked as she jogged over to the next room. She could see that it led to a series of rooms which in turn led to even more rooms. They were in the depths of the DEO’s stores, a place even she had never been. 

“We’ve been slowly taking everything from the Fortress of Solitude and getting it protected here. That ship isn’t safe anymore now that your enemies know that you and your cousin use it.” Vasuqez said as they entered another labyrinth of hallways and rooms. Kara realized that without Vasquez she’d have no idea how to get back to Alex and the team. “And it’s becoming harder to hide its location because of technology. J’onn thought it would be best to move as much of it here. Eventually we plan to relocate the entire ship to a secured DEO location.”

This made sense to her. She knew J’onn had given her several assignments to pull tech and information from the Fortress but he had never told her why. “What exactly do you need my help with?”

“You’ll need to tell us what’s the most important—”

Another blast caused Vasquez and Kara to stumble into the walls of yet another passageway. 

“Shit, that came from the Fortress’ room!” Vasquez pulled out her gun and ran forward. 

Supergirl stayed on her heels, letting her lead as she had no clue which room Vasquez was referring to. After several turns they found a door with smoke seeping through the frame. 

“Vasquez, let me,” Supergirl instructed. “Stay back and make sure no one comes through this door. 

She stepped in front of Vasquez and touched the handle to the door. The electronic panel beside the door was off, all of their security systems were down because of the explosion. She took a deep breath and then pulled the door open.

The smoke was the thickest at the door where it was stuck in part of the remaining building. But across the room the second blast had opened the room up to the sky and the smoke dispersed into the air. What was left of the room was covered in protective trunks and workstations that were beeping and spazzing as a result of the attack. 

Supergirl coughed in the smoke but as she got out of it the scene she found froze her. 

Lillian Luthor was bent over an opened DEO labelled trunk. In her hands was a canister of some sort of liquid. “Here it is. Lex was right. My brilliant boy.”

“Stop!” Supergirl screamed. 

Lillian didn’t start. She didn’t seem phased at all. “Nice of you to join us, Supergirl. It’s too bad you’re too late.”

She tossed a small device to the ground. A blue orb surrounded Lillian and her men who were stacking DEO crates. 

Supergirl stepped forward but smacked right into the blue shield. She pushed on it with all her might, she tried to sear it with her heat vision. But nothing she did made the wall falter. 

Lillian laughed at her. “You Supers are persistent. I will give you that. But as I said, it’s too late.” She snapped her fingers and the men she was with each lifted a crate and walked into a purple archway that sprang up within the blue orbed shield. They disappeared in the archway, transported to another location. 

“What do you think you’re doing?” Supergirl asked. 

“What I said I’d do five years ago. It is time for the aliens of this planet to leave. And it is time for humanity to fulfill its rightful destiny as the rulers of this galaxy.”

“You’re crazy. I won’t let you do this.”

“Too bad I didn’t ask for your permission, then. Come, Lena. It’s time to go.” Lillian stepped into the archway and disappeared. 

Supergirl’s heart stopped. 

Lena emerged from behind a pile of debris in the room. In her hand was one of the handheld console’s from the Fortress of Solitude.

“Lena? What...how…” Supergirl stuttered. 

There was a tear rolling down Lena’s cheek. She swiped it away furiously. She looked into Supergirl’s eyes and shook her head. She took a step toward the transporter. 

“Lena! No! Please don’t do this!”

“Don’t do what,” she turned and looked Supergirl straight in the eyes, “Kara?”

Tears started to stream down Supergirl’s face now. “Lena, please. I’m sorry. I can explain everything. Just don’t do this.”

“You broke your promise!” It wasn’t a scream but it might as well have been. The anguish in her voice nearly brought Supergirl to her knees. “You lied to me!”

“Lena, I can explain! Please don’t do this! This isn’t who you are!”

“I’m a Luthor. This,” she motioned around to the destruction, “is exactly who I am.”

“No!” Kara punched the shimmering blue wall in front of her hard and then even harder as her frustration boiled out. “Don’t do this!”

Lena took several steps back toward the transporter. “I loved you, you know. Damn it, I loved you more than anything.” Another tear slid down her cheek, leaving a gray trail mascara in its wake. “But I wasn’t enough for you. My mother is right. How could I ever deserve someone like you?”

“I love you! I’ve never stopped loving you!”

“No!” This time it was a scream from Lena. “You don’t get to say that now!”

“You have to let me explain!”

“There’s nothing to explain, Supergirl. You made your choice and I’ve made mine.”

“Don’t do this. Stay with me, please,” Supergirl begged. Her hands were on the blue wall in front of her, trying to reach out to Lena. 

Lena froze, two steps from the purple archway. When she turned, pain radiated out of her eyes so fiercely yet there was still a soft warmth as she evaluated Kara through the barrier. “I made her promise me that she wouldn’t hurt you but you’ll need to protect Alex and the rest of your friends.”

“Lena...”

Lena clicked something in her hand. The shimmering blue wall dividing them suddenly faded but before Kara could take one step, Lena disappeared into the transporter. 

************************************************************************************

The bunker was cold and grimy. It reminded Kara of the DEO location that Alex and J’onn had first made her train. Except this one was damp rather than dry and musty. But both were underground, dark, and less inhabitable than what they were used to. 

What was left of the DEO team had scattered to their many secured facilities. Alex’s original assessment that they had managed to get everyone evacuated was incorrect. When a division didn’t show up to their meeting point they realized the damage their organization had taken. Alex had a contact still with NCPD who told her a couple of jeeps fitting her description had been hit in yet another wave of plasma projectiles. There were no survivors. Alex’s contact had also given her the heads up that people high in their organization and in the local government were now siding with the attackers. There would be no cooperation from then on out. The DEO was immediately dissolved in an official capacity and the military was instructed to bring in anyone with suspected ties. The same order was given for anyone of alien descent. Anyone engaging in business, conversations, or any other interaction with a non-human would be subjected to imprisonment. 

In less than six hours, Cadmus had executed a coup that toppled the entire nation. What little information they were getting at the DEO was bleak. Every major city had suffered similar attacks. And in effort to save themselves and their families, most politicians were siding with Cadmus. Casualties, both human and alien, were staggering with the threat of more to anyone who did not side with Cadmus. Their numbers at this bunker were small and getting smaller as many agents were leaving to check for their families and distancing themselves from the DEO. What little contact they had with the other DEO facilities brought news of the same across the board. 

Kara paced one of the dormitories of this bunker. She was alone and had been for several hours after she had briefed J’onn and Alex on what had transpired when her and Vasquez had gone to the Fortress of Solitude vault within the DEO. 

She only spoke hours later when Alex delivered a change of clothes.

“None of this should have happened. I married Mon-El. I fulfilled the prophecy.”

Alex was physically and mentally banged up from the attacks. She had lost many friends, they all had. And she had no idea if Kelly was safe and where she could be. 

“Even though we had that fight we decided to stay together for the prophecy. I don’t understand. We didn’t end the marriage,” Kara continued. 

“Maybe we got it wrong.” Alex had been thinking about their situation too in an attempt not to worry about Kelly. She also had to put on a good front for those DEO agents who stayed loyal to the division and were waiting for their next move. “We both got Lena wrong.”

“That wasn’t Lena,” Kara argued, trying to ignore her growing anger at Alex. “She would never ever do this.”

“Never do what? Lose her sense of purpose? Put her faith in the wrong person?” Alex looked at her incredulously. “She is human.”

“She’s a good person. She’s smart and caring and filled with hope,” her voice quieted at the thought, “she’s everything I should have been.”

“Kara, we’ve been through this,” she sighed. “You should know better than most that, regardless of species, all beings in this universe are capable of good and evil. Even you!”

“I was affected by Red Kryptonite,” she gritted through her teeth. Those few days were definitely the least proud she had ever been of herself and she was content to leave it in the past. 

“And Lena is affected by her mother. The mind can be influenced so easily by the smallest things. Have you ever smiled at a passing stranger who looked like they were down? A simple smile can change that person’s whole day, their self perception of their own worth in the scheme of society. A simple smile can be all that it takes. Now imagine that the woman who never treated you like family, always puts you second to an older brother you couldn’t help find yourself in competition at every turn, finally accepts you. Is it really so hard for you to see her path to this moment?”

Kara felt her lip tremble and couldn’t stop it. What Lena wanted more than anything was a family and Kara had driven her back to Lillian’s arms. This was her fault. “But Lena wouldn’t hurt aliens.”

“And  _ she _ didn’t,” Alex conceded. “But she’s not stopping those who are. She’s helping Lillian in some capacity.”

Kara sank down to a nearby cot. The vision of Lena’s tear stained face swirled in her eyes and her screams echoed in her ears. “What could Cadmus possibly want from the DEO? They went right for the Fortress of Solitude vault. They wanted something specific.”

“We’re still trying to figure it out. You said it was a canister of some sort?”

Kara nodded.

“Whatever it is, they’ve gotten the jump on us,” Alex’s shoulders slumped. “I don’t know how much of a shot we have.”

She stared at Kara for several minutes in silence. What more could they possibly say? No one had heard from Superman, every major city between here and Metropolis was a warzone, and the DEO was abandoned by the government and left with decimated numbers.

“You should get some sleep,” Alex finally said. “If there is a tomorrow it’ll be much worse than today.”

Kara was plunged into darkness when Alex turned off the lights on her way out. Instead of laying back on her cot and trying to sleep, she stayed sitting on the edge, gripping the pillow as tight as she could without ripping it to pieces. How could this have happened? 

She turned her head. She felt like she was being watched in the darkness. A scan of the room brought nothing to her attention out of the ordinary but she still felt uneasy. Then, a small ball of light came from the corner of the room. She stood and took a step towards it. It was tiny, about the size of an apple. As she approached it, it grew, faster and faster, until a man materialized within the light. 

“You could have married me, buttercup.” Mxy smiled wide and held out his hand to her. The room filled with candles, roses and carnations of every color. Decorations began to sprout across the walls and ceiling. The cot she had been sitting on turned into a luscious canopy bed.

She spun, looking at what his magic had done. As her anger boiled she tried to snatch him but he had anticipated this and disappeared in a shimmering light. “That wasn’t funny five years ago and it sure as hell isn’t funny now!”

From behind her, he threw his hands up in the air causing candles, flowers, and glitter to go everywhere. With a snap of his finger it all disappeared. He threw his hip dramatically to the side and put his hands on his waist to scold her. “My, my, Kara Zor-El. Aren’t we cranky. I’m the one who should be upset. You’ve destroyed my favorite vacation spot!”

“I didn’t do this!”

“‘ _ Apart they will be the Earth’s doom, the birth of a plague of darkness _ ,’ isn’t that how the prophecy went?” He conjured a window into the wall of the bunker. Moving back a curtain he peered out and whistled. “Sure looks like a plague to me. I hear the death toll from just this one city was enormous. Hard to imagine what else is happening around the planet.”

Her stomach lurched violently. She couldn’t think about all those innocent people. Her lip started to quiver. “I did what you said!”

“What I said?” He snapped his finger again and the window disappeared. “I didn’t tell you anything.”

“You said that the prophecy was referring to me and Mon-El!”

“Ah, ah. No I didn’t. Don’t you remember?”

This time he snapped his thumb and first finger on both hands together. Before her eyes could blink, she found herself standing in the DEO. She was in the room with the three relics. She was in her supersuit. Alex and Winn were there, looking at a computer screen. The prophecy was written in giant letters across a whiteboard that Mxy was observing. 

“I...I don’t understand. This was all destroyed…”

“What are you talking about, Kara?” Alex looked up in confusion. 

Mxy turned and gave a mischievous smile. 

“This can’t be real,” she stuttered. She felt her phone buzz. At the sight of the message on the screen she nearly dropped the phone. 

_ Lena: Where are you?! Are you okay?! _

Lena. She swallowed hard and felt the wave of deja vu hit her. She looked up from her phone to Mxy who winked at her before he turned back to the board. He began to read the prophecy aloud. 

Kara felt like she was being crushed, like a great force was pressing her past and her current state into one another. Her head started to pound. She tried to focus on what she could remember from five years ago. Mxy had read the prophecy. They had talked about Cadmus and what happened in prophecies. Then Alex asked him if he knew anything about this one specifically.

“What do you think? Do you know what this is about?” Alex asked Mxy right on cue.

She remembered. She remembered that they never got an answer from Mxy because—

Mon-El busted into the room and ran straight for Kara. He grabbed her and looked her over as if she had been hurt. “What happened out there? I got Lena out and then you disappeared! Are you okay?”

Kara looked at him like he was a ghost. “I’m fine...?”

“Isn’t that interesting.” Mxy narrowed his eyes at them, analyzing Mon-El’s grip on Kara’s arm. 

“What? What’s interesting?” Winn asked. He too was suspiciously looking at Kara and Mon-El but with disgust. 

“A boy from Daxam and a girl from Krypton. The universe certainly has interesting story lines.”

Kara pushed Mon-El away hard and rounded on Mxy, trying to grab him again. “See! You told me to!”

The DEO was gone and they were back in the bunker. Her hand was stretched out towards nothing. She looked around for Mxy.

“I did not tell you to marry him.” His voice came from above her. He was sitting on the ceiling, upside down like a bat. “All I implied was it was interesting that you two were there in that room together. Usually your people fought instantaneously with one another. I was surprised you both were so friendly.”

“But...you…”

“Who would ever wish a Daxamite and a Kryptonian together? Worst pairing ever!” He did a dramatic shiver before he flipped down to the floor in front of her.

Her mind was racing. Her whole choice had been shaped by that moment.  _ Once forbidden by family _ ...Kryptonians and Daxamites were never supposed to be together but now they could save _ not one but many worlds _ in continuing the bloodlines of Krypton and Daxam.  _ A pairing of second chances _ ...it was a second chance for Krypton and Daxam while saving Earth. 

“It has to be Mon-El.”

“Clearly not. The humans are tearing themselves apart and destroying this planet and all the aliens. Sounds more like  _ Earth’s doom _ to me. Cadmus is rearing its ugly head and even your precious DEO knows they cannot stop it.”

“I chose wrong?” The last five years of her relationship with Mon-El, the lies and cheating, the struggle with her friends because of her relationship, all the nights she grieved her choice...it was wrong? She dropped onto the nearest cot and cradled her head in her hands. “This is my fault. I did this to Earth. But who could it have been?”

Mxy knelt in front of her. He rubbed her knees gently and was ecstatic that she didn’t recoil at her touch as she had in previous attempts of affection. “That I cannot tell you, my dear, for I do not know.”

“But you made it seem like you knew. Even just now when we went back you—”

“I what?”

“You took us back in time.”

He smiled wryly. “I did. I have the power to go to any point in time or space, visit any version of the universe that I please.”

“So you could go to a different universe, one where I made the right choice, and then take me back so I could make it. Right? You could take me to find the way to stop Cadmus!”

His laughter filled the room. “In theory yes. But I won’t do it.”

“Why not?”

“Because there is always a price to pay for those actions and you, my strong beautiful Kryptonian goddess, and your planet are not worth it to me.”

“What price?”

“Oh, let’s not get bogged down with the nuances of it all.” He sounded exasperated, like he was quickly getting bored of this game. “Plus, I’d hate to face the wrath of Tiresias.”

“Tiresias?” Though her lips had never uttered the name something in the core of her soul awakened. She knew that she didn’t know whoever or whatever Mxy was referring to but something about her soul did. 

Mxy hummed. “The prophet. Nasty old man who rules, or should I say ruins, the universe. He gives riddled clues as to how to stop his little games. Only problem is, he gets too much enjoyment out of watching the beings of this universe descend into chaos trying to figure out the prophecies. In the end, they fail and Tiresias gets to cause his havoc anyway, all with the bonus of watching the suffering beforehand.”

“Why didn’t you tell us this five years ago? And why doesn’t someone stop him?”

“Several have tried. I nearly lost my life once helping a group try to stop him. He’s very powerful, maybe one of the most powerful in the entire universe.”

“He’s done this before? Winn once said he found other similar signatures from the times I got the prophecy.”

“More frequently than you know. Many of the wars on Apokolips, the genocide done by the White Martians on Mars, the destruction of Krypton.”

“There was a prophecy for Krypton?”

“A prophecy that if fulfilled could have saved it but alas we know its ending.”

There was a singular being responsible for much of the mayhem in the universe, including the events of her life that had destroyed her and those she cared about. A single being who used them all as pieces in a game of destructive fun. And now she had inadvertently helped him tear this world apart. “Winn said it's happened here on Earth before. Is that true?”

“Indeed, your little drool prone tech guy is correct. Tiresias became quite famous on this planet at one point in its history. He’ll do anything to cause chaos destruction on as many planets as he can. It looks like he’s done it again here on Earth.”

“Because of me.” Tears brimmed at her eyes and her words stuck in her throat. 

“Don’t be too hard on yourself! Most people fail to fulfill the prophecies. It’s just his game.” Mxy reached up and wiped her cheeks. “I’ve been trying to stop him for millenia. Maybe...no…”

“No, tell me!”

“Maybe together we could stop all of this.”

He snapped his fingers again causing a table to appear between them. The cot beneath her turned into a chair and another chair materialized across from her. Mxy unbuttoned his blazer and slung it on the back of the chair before sitting. He rolled up his sleeves and pulled a file of paper out from nowhere. 

“I’ll make you a deal, Supergirl,” he continued. “I cannot give you the answers you seek, that would put me directly in the path of Tiresias which I’d rather not do, but I can give you a chance to find those answers.”

“You can? You’ll help me?”

“We’ve only got one shot at this. I cannot take you back and forth several times. The price would just be…” he shuddered. “But I think I can manage it once. That being said, you will need to make the right choice when I take you back. To do that, you need to know what choice to make!”

“How do we do that?”

“If you help me in return I will provide  _ you _ a chance to find the answers and then go back in time to make the right choice. I cannot go to another universe for you but I can send you there. Tiresias has taken much from me, things that were mine, people I loved.” His tone was grave, his voice husked these last few words as if they were stuck in his throat. “And I’ve had to witness his atrocities across many lifetimes. It needs to stop. I am close to finding a way to stop him,” he tapped the file in his hand, “but I need the help of someone like you.”

“Help you how?” She reached for the file.

He quickly moved it to his lap, under the table and out of her reach. “Be patient, Kryptonian. Find your answers first so you can fulfill the prophecy and save Earth. Then, once you and yours are safe we can take on Tiresias. Together.”

He stood from his chair and stretched out his hand to her, waiting for a handshake. Kara evaluated him skeptically. She wanted to save Earth so badly but this was a blind plan. She should really go get Alex and J’onn. 

To hell with it. She’s had less information before. She rose and shook his hand. 

“Excellent!” His previous good-natured positivity returned. “Well then, I’m off. Best of luck to you, Kara Zor-El.”

With a last snap of his fingers the dormitory of the bunker returned to its normal state. He bowed to her and then was gone. The room was dark once again and she realized that the only light had been from him. 

“Wait! What about taking me?!”

She got no response. 

“Mxy!”

Nothing.

Her head was pounding suddenly. What had she just agreed to? The events of the day and now this encounter had left her exhausted. Her eyes felt heavy and she swayed on the spot. She collapsed on the cot and barely had pulled the blanket over her when her eyes closed.

************************************************************************************

The shrill of her phone alarm broke her dreamless sleep. She let out a groan. She didn’t remember setting an alarm. Clumsily she felt between her body and the cot in search of the intrusive sound. Her eyelids were still heavy from the night before and she couldn’t even force them open. Her hand stopped searching for the phone, her body tired enough to let herself sleep through it. She started to drift off again, comforted by the warmth of the blanket above her. 

“Can you  _ please _ choose a different tone for your alarm? That is the worst sound to wake up to.”

Her eyes flew open. Instead of a dark, dingy bunker she was in a room flooded with sunlight. The ceiling was vaulted above her, a fan that was spinning lazily was hanging down from the rafters. The room smelled like Christmas, a combo of pine, orange, and cinnamon. It was so peaceful and comfortable. 

Movement on her chest caused her to look down in alarm. The warmth she thought had been provided from her blanket was actually that of a person who was nesting their face into her chest. A part of her told her not to worry, that this was normal. And when she took a deep breath she felt content, her initial surprise fading away. But then she remembered National City burning beneath her as she flew to safety and this made her heart rate spike again and a sharp pain bolted her head. She tried to rise but the person adjusted their position and threw their leg over her own, squeezing her tighter in an embrace. Long black hair tickled her skin and she realized that she was naked and so too was this person laying on top of her. 

“Just a few more minutes,” the groggy voice hummed. 

It was so familiar but she couldn’t quite place it. She tried to move again. 

Lena, her eyes still hooded with sleep, rose from Kara’s chest with a sigh. She ran her nose along Kara’s flushed cheek, finishing it with a quick peck before burying her face into her neck, completely oblivious to Kara’s shocked state. “Good morning, my love.”


	9. Chapter 9

_ “Good morning, my love.” _

“Lena?!” Kara gasped and tried to cover her naked torso. “What...I don’t...oh my God you’re naked...I’m naked!” She fell off of the bed as she scrambled away from Lena. 

The grogginess that had clouded Lena’s eyes vanished and she was alert. “Kara, what is wrong?” She was torn between worry and humor.

“You...your mother...the explosion…” A blinding pain caused her to groan out. She grabbed her head and dug her fingers into her scalp trying to pull the pain out. 

“What are you talking about?”

“Lena, what did she take?” Kara asked, backing further away. Lurking beneath the searing pain were flashes of scenes of rumble. Then there was Lena, silhouette by purple light yelling but also crying. Lillian Luthor was standing up with something in her hand but Kara couldn’t see it. 

Worry had finally won over Lena’s emotions. She grabbed her phone from the nightstand and pressed a number off of her favorites. “Alex, something is wrong with Kara.”

Kara made her way from the bed and from Lena. She saw a door frame and threw herself through it, slamming the door behind her. She pressed up against it, her breaths heaving in and out of her. What was this? Where was she? As the pain started to subside she realized she was in a bathroom. She saw a laundry hamper against the far wall. First, she needed to find clothes and then she’d worry about getting out of here. She dug through the hamper and found clothes - her clothes. She recognized nearly all of them. How could this be? How could her clothes that she knew should be in her own house be in this hamper?

She quickly pulled some on, throwing aside clothes she didn’t recognize, and began to pace the bathroom. The room was spacious and cozy. Whoever had designed it had done so with it being an often used room for relaxation. It was painted in soothing colors and decorated lightly but respectfully. The dual vanity was cluttered but organized. Around one of the sinks were all the bathroom products that Kara used.  _ This is my sink. _ She quickly pushed the thought away. This couldn’t be happening. 

How had she gotten here? She tried to think back to what she remembered before waking up to a very naked Lena. The DEO explosion, Lena and her mother stealing something from the wreckage...there was something else but the more she thought about it the more her head hurt. She nearly collapsed again as she tried to pull the memories from a depth that didn’t make sense. It was like trying to recall a dream that was slipping quickly away and every effort she put into pulling back made her brain pound viciously. But there was something she needed to remember...she was sure of it. 

A soft knock came on the door. “Kara?” It was Alex’s voice. “Kara, can you open the door for me?”

“Alex, is it really you?” Kara gritted in pain.

There was hesitancy in the response. “Yes, why wouldn’t it be me?”

“Dammit, don’t play games with me!”

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry. How would you like me to prove myself to you?”

Kara thought for a moment but the pounding in her head was making it difficult. She needed something that only Alex would know. “When I was first adopted I stole something and kept it under my bed. You’re the only one who knew about it. What was it?”

There was more silence on the other side of the door. The shadows that could be seen under it moved in a pattern of deliberation, someone swaying back and forth. 

“Oh! You took that creepy little nutcracker of mom’s. You said it reminded you of a toy you had when you were younger. When mom started packing up all the decorations that Christmas she couldn’t find it. I eventually found it in your room when I was looking for one of my CDs.”

Satisfied, Kara cracked open the door and evaluated Alex through squinted eyes. “Are you sure you’re Alex?”

“Will you please come out of the bathroom and let me examine you.”

Kara opened the door wider and took one step into the bedroom. “Where’s Lena?” she whispered. “How did you get past her?”

“I used my super duper top secret agent skills,” she sassed. “Kara, we both know your wife, while protective of you, can’t stop me even if she tried. Plus she’s the one who called me.”

“My wife?!”

Alex scoffed at the outburst. 

“It’s not funny, Alex.”

“I’m not laughing, Kara.”

Another searing bolt of pain shot through her brain. She collapsed down to her knees and grabbed at her head. Her eyes squeezed shut tightly, trying to fend off the pain. When she opened them the bedroom had disappeared and she was sitting in a room that was strange yet familiar, looking out at the National City skyline in the near distance. She turned her head to the right and found Alex sitting on the floor facing away from her, her back against the couch that Kara was sitting on. The room was so familiar. It felt like home yet she couldn’t quite place where she was. 

_ “It’s not funny, Alex.” Her mouth moved on its own accord. Her voice sounded somewhat foreign though she knew it was her’s.  _

_ “I’m not laughing, Kara.” Alex pushed the coffee table in front of her away and turned to look at Kara. “This is serious And ridiculous. I don’t for a second trust that strange little man. But if he’s—” _

Alex’s voice suddenly sounded as if she was underwater. Kara couldn’t make out the words and the vision of Alex and the strange yet familiar room faded with another searing sting of pain. 

“Jesus Christ, Kara!” This new Alex was on the floor next to her, the sassy playfulness that had been there a moment before swept away with serious concern. 

Kara came out of whatever experience she had just had. The pounding in her head subsided as quickly as the pain had come but in its wake there was a raw sensitivity. She coughed and tried to place herself but nothing seemed right, nothing fit with what her brain was trying to make of the world around her. She gasped when she felt hands cup her face. When she looked up Lena was there on her knees too, her face in agony at Kara’s state. All Kara wanted to do was reach out and touch Lena but another part of her told her to be wary of her. 

“Alex, what’s wrong with her?” Lena pleaded. Her eyes were watering and her voice quivered. 

“Let’s get her up on the bed.”

The two of them managed to get Kara’s struggling form on to the bed with some difficulty. Lena crawled up next to Kara and ran her fingers through the blonde hair. Her shoulders slumped when Kara shied away from her. 

Alex was watching every move of Kara’s and saw the avoidance. Her eyes met Lena and she shook her head once to indicate she was unsure of what was going on. “Lena, will you go get Kara some juice or something?”

Lena swallowed back a sob and left the bed quickly. 

In her absence, Kara took advantage of being alone with Alex again and rose up, though with difficulty, to whisper in Alex’s ear. “Why do you think we’re married?”

It was obvious that Alex took this information as being concerning from the crinkle of her brow and the way she bit her lip. “Because you are married to Lena.”

“What? No...that’s not possible...I’m married to...” Her brain searched for an answer she knew should be there but couldn’t find it. There was only pain.

“Obviously you’re having some sort of reaction to something that is causing memory loss.” Alex opened up her medical bag and started laying out a variety of instruments. She pulled on a pair of gloves and motioned at Kara to sit. “What did you do yesterday?”

Kara pushed herself up against the headboard and held out her arm expectantly. She grimaced at the prick of the Kryptonite needle and then started. “I don’t know...The DEO was blown up...I remember being above it but also below it in a room that had stuff…”She wanted to stop as the pain crescendoed again but pushed through it. “Lillian Luthor was taking something out of a crate...Lena was crying and yelling at me and I was sad and confused and angry.”

Alex sighed, looking deeply troubled as she climbed up on the bed with her sister. She put the kit across her lap and started to divide Kara’s blood among four small vials. She sat them each in a holder and set a timer on her phone. Once she was done she turned back to Kara. “What is today’s date?”

“Um, December...maybe…” A flash of a vision, a coffee cup with ‘Happy Holidays’ written across it as a ball of flames rolled past her on the floor. And more throbbing pain. “I don’t know exactly.”

“That’s okay. What is the year?”

“2017?” Kara asked rather than stated.

Alex’s timer went off and she checked the vials. Whatever she was expecting wasn’t there. “Well, there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with you according to this.”

“But something is clearly wrong.” Lena was watching them from the bedroom doorway, a small glass of orange juice in her hand. Her face was all pain and sadness. “Last night she was fine and then this.”

“Let’s get you fully dressed and take a trip to the DEO. Come on, Supergirl,” she patted Kara’s leg, “We’ll get you figured out.”

“Alex!” Kara bulged her eyes out in disbelief. “Shhh, she’s right there! I haven’t told her yet!”

Alex looked to Lena to see if she knew what Kara was talking about but only got a confused look back. “What are you talking about, Kara?”

Kara made sure that Lena couldn’t see her from the otherside of Alex. She drew the shape of an ‘S’ on her shirt and pointed to herself and then toward Lena. “I haven’t told her yet,” Kara hissed.

Another blinding flash of pain seared her head and she saw Lena, again in a purple archway, calling her Kara and Supergirl.

Alex closed her kit and stood. “This is going to be interesting.”

****

The building that housed the DEO stood strong and tall, nestled within downtown National City. When Kara had first caught a glimpse of it as they rounded the corner on their walk from wherever they had been with Lena, she ran forward in amazement. 

“This can’t be. I was there,” she said as she pointed out the building across the street to Alex. “The explosion sent me into that building.”

Alex looked up, following Kara’s pointed finger. “Kara, as you can see the DEO is fine. National City is fine. What exactly do you think happened?”

Now that Lena was not with them, Kara felt freer to tell more details, not that she remembered that much more. 

“You think Lena had something to do with whatever you think happened?” She pulled Kara across the street toward the DEO building. “That’s...rough, Kara. And kind of shitty.”

“What?”

“You spent the whole beginning of you and Lena’s relationship defending her and now you’re spouting off that she’s attacked the DEO with her mother and stolen something?”

“But I…I saw her…wait, what’s that?”

She was looking in the distance at some sort of metallic tunnel that went from Earth and disappeared into the clouds. It looked to just be outside of city limits. As she examined it, a pod shot down the tunnel at incredible speed. 

“The space elevator?”

“A space elevator?” Kara blinked rapidly as if it was an illusion. “When...how…?”

Alex again examined her sister with worry. “I take it they didn’t have that in your dream?”

“A dream? Is that what you think I had?”

“I don’t know but let’s get you inside.” Alex opened a door for Kara and beckoned her in. 

The lobby was as Kara remembered it, or at least what she had expected. Maybe? Two individuals worked the information desk and the usual set of security guards patrolled the entrance to the elevators. In her memory, the DEO building was undercover as an obscure tech company. That helped them explain the security as well as the coming and going of so many individuals. They tried to keep a low profile. It was the floors above and below the lobby that made them unique. Yet as Kara looked around, the DEO logo was on everything: the marble floor, the wall behind the information desk, the ID tags of the people coming and going. It seemed they were no longer hiding what organization this really was. 

One of the desk clerks waved Alex and Kara through and the security guards nodded at them without asking for proof of ID. Though the lobby and the staff didn’t appear out of the ordinary, the elevator did make Kara’s brain stretch itself. The electronic panel was extremely high-tech, more than anything she had even seen on Krypton.

If she was impressed by the elevator, what she saw next stunned her. The elevator doors opened to a DEO that was very different from what Kara remembered. Before there was steel, lead, and stone, it was dark because of the blackout windows to prevent outsiders from peering in and the darkened color scheme chosen by whoever had designed it. But now it was open and bright. The windows were not covered and someone had decorated it in bright colors with lighter walls and splashes of color. Even the people bustling about seemed in brighter moods. They smiled as they went about their work casually. Their hurrying and urgency that always seemed to plague those who worked there was gone. 

Alex led them down a hallway Kara didn’t remember. They went through a series of doors into a large cavernous space. The room was opened up high for several floors and was vast across too. But rather than a large open space, there were glass pods within the massive room. A dozen or so, each about the size of a typical bedroom. Each pod contained small groups of people fighting. And not just people but  _ aliens _ . She could name off a dozen different species just within the first few pods.

The maze of pathways that connected each pod also contained individuals, some walking to and from pods and others standing outside the glass wall of a pod watching the fight happening within. Nearly every person she saw was in the same black uniform. Yet dotted amongst these fighters were others, also in black uniforms, but with different colors on their epaulettes. Vasquez was in a pod close to the walkway where Alex and Kara had entered, red epaulettes on her shoulders. She was yelling commands at the two individuals who were dancing defensively around one another in the pod. 

“Kara? Are you coming?”

Kara didn’t answer her. She was too focused on what was happening in the pods. Clearly this was training and not actual fighting. Some pairs, she noticed, were playfully taunting one another as they jabbed and juked. Other pairs, while fiercely engaged in a fight, were clearly not going for a full take down or kill. And the observers just outside the glass walls were laughing or critiquing pairs, jotting down notes on tablets. 

“Kara?”

“In a minute…” She stepped up to one of the pods watching two Ngoans battle. As they circled one another, occasionally lunging toward the other in an attempted jab, Kara felt a twinge of uncertainty. Although she had been confused by the morning’s events, her connection to Lena, and all that Alex was telling her, none of it felt as out of place as this. Here in the DEO, aliens not in human disguises were training. On Earth. Out in the open. And not only that, they were clearly being trained by DEO agents though she noticed some members with what she assumed was leadership markings on their uniform were not human. Something told her this was different. She closed her eyes and tried to push her memory back before just yesterday which is what Alex had asked her to focus on earlier. Yesterday was hazy and the thought of it brought the pounding of her head to an apex, the day before that was clearer but not by much and it still brought pain. She decided to start the opposite way. Her memories on Krypton, when she first came to Earth, growing up, becoming Supergirl...these memories seemed fine. Distant and colored by time, but they were there and she knew they were true. But the closer she got to the future the worse it became. Yet something was telling her that this scene was out of place, that something about it just didn’t fit with the schemas in her brain. 

She let her forehead rest on one of the glass walls and sighed. 

“Hey.” Alex came up behind her and wrapped her arm. “You okay? Do you feel like you’re going to collapse again?”

Kara swallowed and took another deep breath. “No, I’m okay. I am going to be okay, right? I’m so confused.”

“I know, sweetheart. Let’s get you down here to the lab and we’ll try and figure it out.”

They gingerly made their way down the side of the room rather than through the maze of pods. Vasquez was distracted when she saw Alex easing Kara along. Alex gave her a small shoulder raise and motioned toward the lab which Vasquez responded to with a curt nod. 

Alex’s lab was like all the other rooms Kara had seen so far in the DEO. Glass walls so that you could see in it and through it to the rooms beyond. But the lab door, however, required a key card which Alex swiped now. The door beeped and Alex pulled it open. As they entered, Kara realized that it wasn’t just a single room but a suite of rooms. The first had a conference table, a large monitor on the wall. Again, all the technology was far more advanced than anything Kara had seen before. 

Alex led her through two adjoining rooms to what must have been the medical part of the suite. This new room they entered had two medical beds along one side, typical medical equipment flanking their sides. Through the next glass wall was a room that had several workstations, microscopes and high resolution screens scattered throughout. There were other machines that Kara couldn’t name, that she had never seen before. A single lab technician with a lab coat came to the door and poked his head in. “Hey Kara, Alex. Is everything okay?”

Kara had no memory of this person. She opened and closed her mouth but turned to Alex for help. 

“Steve, can you boot up all the machines. I think we have a puzzle on our hands.”

Steve the lab technician gave Kara a concerning look but nodded to Alex before closing the door again. 

“Have a seat.” Alex guided her to one of the beds and helped ease her down onto it. “Roll up your sleeves and let’s get you hooked up.”

“What is this place?”

“It’s the DEO, Kara.”

“Why are there so many aliens?”

Alex bit her lip as she thought about an answer. “We’ll get to that. Give me your arm.”

Before long, Alex had Kara hooked up to several machines and was running consecutive tests. Neither spoke to the other as Alex worked. Occasionally Alex would huff as she got a result, rather a non-result and then she’d move on to the next test. At one point she pulled an odd looking device from a drawer and ran it along Kara’s skin. It beeped as it rolled and this beeping disappointed Alex.

Kara watched Alex intensely, her eyes following every move. The only time her eyes left Alex’s face was when she heard a vibration from somewhere. By the fourth buzz, Kara found the source. It was Alex’s phone on her hip. 

“You should probably get that. It might be Maggie.”

Whatever instrument Alex had been holding clanged loudly against the tray as it fell from her hand. She turned slowly, her face a mixture of confusion and hurt. “What did you just say?”

“I said, it’s probably Maggie.”

Alex pulled the phone from its hold on her hip, checked it, and silenced it. Her lips were pursed and her eyes looked everywhere but Kara’s face. “Kara, what year is it?”

“2017. You already asked me that.”

“So who is my significant other?”

“Maggie.”

Clearly that was the wrong answer. “Maggie and I broke up—”

“What? Why? Alex, I’m so sorry.”

“—in 2018.”

Kara blinked hard, like this new information couldn’t be computed. “But Alex…”

“The date is December 20, 2022,” Alex sighed. “You’re obviously suffering from some sort of amnesia. I don’t know why and I don’t know what has caused it but something has screwed up your memories.”

“How could I have lost five years?” Kara dropped her face into her hands. “You have to be wrong. This can’t be.”

“I want you to try and remember what happened yesterday.” Alex rolled a medical seat over and sat next to Kara’s bed. She ran her hand up and down Kara’s arm as she spoke to try and ground her, soothe her in case there was any pain. 

Kara winced in pain that was so intense she couldn’t remember anything.

“How about Thanksgiving? Or our Halloween party?”

Pain again and no concrete memories. There were flashes but they were incoherent.

Alex worked Kara’s memory back, further and further. Kara reported pain the entire time, though she admitted it was lessening. Even as the pain subsided the further they got back in time, her memories were still distorted and jumbled and incorrect based on what Alex said had happened. 

“How about Christmas 2017?”

This time there was only a dull ache. And she remembered a present they had given Eliza, a funny little figurine of a scientist. 

“Good,” Alex said. “That’s a right detail for the first time. Though we bought mom that in August, remember? We found it at that little antique store. Do you remember giving it to mom or us buying it?”

Kara pulled at the Christmas memory. Another dull ache, and then a vision of a wrapped box that Kara sensed was that specific gift. “I can’t seem to remember actually giving it to her. It’s just a box with green wrapping paper.”

“Then how did you know it was a figurine?”

“I just do.” She searched her memory and saw it in the store front. “But I remember we were walking down 86th street. We had tried that new Thai place and you saw it in the window.” There was no pain and the memory was clear. She looked up to her sister, suddenly proud of herself for getting something right. 

“Interesting. So something between August and December of that year is where the pain starts.” Alex rolled the doctor’s seat back under the workstation and started to pace the room. “Try to think back to that time period. What is the last memory you have that isn’t painful?”

Kara filed through her memories, wincing every once in a while as she crossed something that resulted in a pricking pain. She couldn’t quite remember what they did for Halloween that year though she remembered something about a pumpkin. She stretched her neck in an attempt to lighten some pressure on her head so that she could reach those memories. There was a pumpkin...Maggie...Alex hanging jackets...And then it clicked. 

_ “You know, I think it should be illegal to start decorating more than two weeks before a holiday. It’s only now October and the stores are already putting out Christmas stuff!” Maggie shook her head.  _

_ “It’s October! It’s not like I started decorating in September. And plus it’s just a pumpkin,”  _ Kara heard herself say. It was just like that morning. She was experiencing the memory yet she was also that version of Kara. 

_ “I should be able to give you a ticket for it,” Maggie laughed with her finger pointed at Kara. _

_ “Well, I like your pumpkin. I don’t see anything wrong with embracing fall as a whole,” Lena said from the couch with a wink.  _

_ Maggie rolled her eyes. “You’re biased, Luthor,” she teased. “Hand me that box.”  _

_ There were game pieces all over the coffee table and the floor. Maggie and Lena started to pick them up and Kara felt her body shift and go towards the kitchen. As she picked up a glass to put in the sink, Alex came around the corner. _

_ “Where did the boys get off to?” _

_ “Claimed they had to be somewhere. You know they just wanted to get out of cleaning.” _

_ “It looks like Maggie and Lena have it handled in there, you want some help with the dishes?” Alex asked.  _

_ But Kara didn’t answer. She could feel the wide smile across her face, the blush that filled her stretched cheeks as Maggie impersonated Kara from an earlier round of charades causing Lena to laugh so hard she snorted.  _

_ “You’re in love with her.” Alex grabbed her arm. “God, you got it bad. Maggie has been telling me something was going on between you two but I didn’t think anything of it until tonight with your heart-eyes and drool.” _

_ “I don’t have heart eyes and drool!” She felt a nervousness, like a kid who has been caught doing something she shouldn’t. “I think I do, Alex. I...Rao, this is scary.”  _

_ “But it’s a good type of scary, isn’t it?” Alex paused to down the last of her beer from its bottle. “It’s a shame she’s a Luthor.” _

“We had game night. James, Winn, Lena, you, and Maggie,” Kara rattled off. “That’s the night I told you I had feelings for Lena.”

Alex searched her own memories. “That’s right. I remember that night. I told you that you shouldn’t date Lena.”

“You told me it wasn’t safe for Lena to know I am Supergirl.”

“I did. And you and Lena have proven me wrong, I’m happy to admit. What do you remember after that.”

“I was mad at you.”

Alex snorted. “Of course. You never like when I tell you something you don’t want to hear. What do you remember after that?”

“Um, I was upset with you...I really wanted to be with Lena…” She felt a warm breeze and smelled ocean air. “I’m flying over the bay.” 

She suddenly groaned in pain. This pain was worse than before. She doubled forward, nearly slipping off the side of the medical bed.

“Easy! Lay back!” Alex grabbed all of the cords that were connected to her to make sure none got twisted or disconnected. “Lay back but see if you can keep going.”

“Buildings are crumbling...I think there is an earthquake…”Each phrase came out through gritted teeth and in huffed pain. She coughed and grabbed at her head. There was a strange voice over this memory but Kara was too focused on the pain to understand the words. Her eyes clouded with an orange tint. And now she saw a figure. “It’s...it’s my mother…”

She screamed in pain. Then there was nothing.

****

Kara came to. She was still in Alex’s lab, on the medical bed. She was still hooked to all of the machines, their beeping giving off her vitals. But she was alone in the lab. Last time, back in the bedroom she had awoken in, the event was quick. Painful, but quick. This time she had no sense of how much time had passed though she suspected it was quite a bit since Alex had left the lab and that lab technician was gone. 

She sat up, rubbing her forehead. All the cords attached to her smacked at the bed she was on and pulled on her skin. She didn’t want to remove anything and mess up Alex’s tests but she didn’t want to be stuck in this bed any longer either. 

She looked around for help. She found Alex through the glass wall into the next room. And Lena. Lena was crying, her face in her hands as her shoulders shook. Alex was rubbing her arms up and down, trying her best to comfort her. When Lena pulled her hands from her face, Kara was struck by how beautiful she was, even when crying. Her memories may be jumbled and painful but she did remember the feelings that Lena had always given her. The first time they had met Kara was breathless. The first time she felt Lena in her arms she thought she was in heaven. Her brain seized in pain as a memory of Lena flashed, Lena so very close to her, their lips almost touching. Kara could feel her body against hers, could smell her perfume. And there was something else. Something distant but it was there. Through the pain she tried to grab it and pull it forward. Her eyes clenched as the pain seared and then it was there. Not visually, but to her ears. Music. When she opened her eyes she saw a version of Lena with more make-up on than what she had witnessed this morning. She felt Lena swaying with her. They were dancing. 

Just as she was focusing on the memory, or vision, whichever it was, another blindsided her. Lena standing in a room of debris, tears flowing down her face as she screamed at Kara. This version of Lena was so different from the version of her dancing or even the version she had seen this morning. This Lena was more gaunt, somehow paler and thinner. She radiated sadness and something else that Kara couldn’t quite put her finger on. Was it hate? Pity?

She groaned as she fell back to the bed. The motion caught Lena’s eye and both her and Alex came rushing in. 

“Kara, you okay? How’s your head?” Alex asked as she checked the monitors. 

“It hurts but I think I’m okay. How long was I out?”

“A couple of hours.” Alex clicked the machines off and started to remove all the cords that were connected to Kara’s body. “I haven’t been able to find any cause for your memory issues. And other than the pain you seem to be perfectly fine. I’m going to let Lena take you home so you can rest.”

Kara peered around Alex to Lena who was standing by the door, keeping a distance. “Are you sure that’s a good idea.”

“Lena is your wife,” Alex whispered close to Kara’s face so Lena couldn’t hear. “She is very worried about you. And she loves you. She’s been a wreck all day because of what’s happening. There is no one in this universe I would trust you or your well-being with more.”

Alex helped Kara off the bed and made sure she was steady on her feet. “Take her home, get her some food, and you both do what you normally do. Maybe that’ll help trigger something,” she said to Lena. “See if you can remind her of the last five years. If she has more head pain then ease up and let her rest. That okay with you, Kara?”

Kara gulped, glanced once more at Lena, and nodded her head. 


	10. Chapter 10

Outside of the DEO, a driver, who greeted Kara enthusiastically, held open a car door. Kara was apprehensive. She glanced at Lena and Alex to make sure it was okay for her to get into this car with a stranger. The driver’s smile faltered and he looked to Lena as if he had done something wrong. 

“It’s okay, Mitch. Kara is having a bit of a rough day,” Lena said as she followed Kara. She patted his shoulder in hopes of easing his confusion. “Are you ready?” she asked Kara.

Kara looked over Lena’s shoulder at Alex on the curb. Though a part of her was still wary of this new world she was in, the presence of Alex, whatever version, had soothed her. She was nervous to leave this Alex’s care and watchful eyes. 

Alex gave her an encouraging smile. “Call me if you need me. I’ll come check in on you in the morning.”

The short car ride started silently. Lena occasionally looked over at her and she caught the driver peering at her in the rearview mirror every time she looked toward the front of the car. She felt like an animal in a cage, a foreigner. And then she realized she was. In her mind she was an outsider. To them, she was an oddity suddenly which might as well mean she was just like an outsider. 

She turned her attention out the window and her nervousness gave way to awe. Somehow on her walk to the DEO with Alex that morning she had been too distracted to realize how different this National City was to the one in her memory. Everything was so... _ tech-y _ . The buildings were mostly the same but the facades were not. Many now had giant monitors flashing information or advertisements. The crosswalks were fancier. Unmanned automatic street and sidewalk cleaners worked themselves up past the car. Yet the technological presence wasn’t overwhelming. At first Kara couldn’t figure out why. And then she noticed the greenery. Trees, shrubs, flowers...they were  _ everywhere _ . It was like they were driving through an urban jungle. The city had holiday decorations up, wreaths, bells, and strings of lights, but even beyond that it was so green. She turned to Lena to see if she was surprised and found Lena staring at her intently, studying her and her reactions.

Kara opened her mouth to say something but didn’t quite know what to say. Finally she stuttered out, “It’s so green.”

“It is.” Lena’s brow furrowed. “You really don’t remember anything, do you?”

“The last thing I can really remember is game night back when Alex and Maggie were together. And you and I were…” Her cheeks blushed. She had always been so affected by Lena, entranced and in awe. If you told the version of her from that game night that one day they’d be married then she would have been ecstatic but something about this felt off. Here was the woman she knew she always wanted and she actually had her, yet she couldn’t remember how they had gotten to this point. So was this life even really hers? Was this life true?

Lena went into deep thought trying to recall just which game night Kara was referring to from the past. They finished the rest of the ride in silence, Kara studying all the new differences she saw in National City and Lena lost in memories of the past. 

Mitch stopped the car in front of a building that Kara recognized from that morning. He put the car in park and opened his door. 

“Mitch, will you give Kara and I a moment please?” Lena asked. 

He peered back at her, concern all over his face. She nodded once to him and he shrugged, closing the driver’s door. He made his way around to Lena’s door and stood patiently outside the car. 

Lena sat for a moment, staring out her window at the building. “Alex told me about the dream or whatever this is that you had. With me...and my mother…”

Kara inhaled sharply and held it, not sure where Lena was taking this conversation. She wasn’t looking at Kara and it made the tone of the conversation more serious, an incredible tension filling the car in just that statement. 

“I don’t know what is happening to you,” a tear slid down her cheek as she continued and her voice had a slight tremble, “but I want you to know that I have never helped my mother do anything nor would I ever. Especially if it could hurt you or anyone else.”

“Lena…”

“No, let me finish. I see how you flinch away from me when I get too close or how you won’t look me directly in the eyes. And even when you do look at me it’s as if you’re looking at a stranger.”

She wiped the tear off of her face and gathered her purse, slipping her phone into it before pulling it up over her shoulder. Only then did she turn and look at Kara. There was so much pain in her eyes. “If you don’t want to stay here at home... _ our _ home, I’ll understand. We can make other arrangements. But I love you and I will do anything to help fix this.”

She knocked on the window, signaling for Mitch to open the door. 

Kara reached forward to take her hand but Lena had already slipped out of the opened car door. 

****

Lena made her way into the building, letting Kara choose to follow or stay in the car. She had instructed Mitch to take Kara wherever she wanted to go. 

Kara hesitated only briefly, then scampered to catch up to Lena in the lobby of the building. 

“Good evening, Ms. Luthor...Ms. Danvers,” an older gentleman said as he came around a desk toward the far wall of the building’s lobby. Behind the desk there was a logo of the letters ‘L’ and ‘D’ on the wall. An open entryway off to its side led into what looked like a mailroom, mail slots along one wall and a table filled with packages. “You have several packages today. Would you like us to bring them up?”

“That would be great. Thank you, Thomas.”

He smiled brightly as Lena passed him toward the elevators. As Kara went to follow, he stepped closer and whispered, “It’s here. I’ll keep it down here in the lock case like we talked about.” He winked at her and then stepped back. “You all enjoy your evening.”

Kara eyed him suspiciously. She wasn’t sure how to reply resulting in her standing there awkwardly. The elevator dinged and Lena disappeared into it. Realizing that if Lena and the elevator left her in the lobby she wouldn’t know how to get to their place. She could ask the porter, of course, but she was already embarrassed and confused that she didn’t know what he was talking about with the lock case.

“What was that about?” Lena asked when the elevator doors had closed. She punched in a code and then selected the penthouse. 

“I’m not entirely sure,” Kara said distractedly. She was watching every single selection Lena made on the panel so that she knew how to get to their place in the event Lena left her alone. “But that seems to be the theme of today.”

Lena took a timid step toward Kara. Their eyes met, and she hesitantly reached out toward Kara’s arm. When Kara didn’t shy away she slipped her hand into Kara’s and squeezed. “We’ll get this figured out.”

Kara nodded. Her heart was racing at Lena’s touch. She had purposely tried to make sure she didn’t flinch away. She had hurt Lena enough today and the memories she did have were of her wanting Lena, wishing for this exact scenario. “Thanks, Lena.”

Her acceptance of Lena’s affection relieved some of the stress between them. 

The elevator dinged again and the doors opened to a warm entry landing. It was simply decorated with a dark wood round table, a large bouquet of fresh flowers in its middle. A door, matching in color to the table, was across from the elevator. A large wreath hung from it, its branches with decorative snow and large poinsettia flowers. Lena fished out her keys from her purse and let them into the unit. 

That morning Kara had been in too much pain and confusion for her to get a good look at what was apparently her home as Alex escorted her out of the penthouse and to the DEO. Now that she was in a better state, she examined it eagerly. It was a very nice space. There were three levels that you could see up while standing in the sunken living room. As she peered upward she could see bookshelves lining much of the second floor and the third floor must have had tons of windows based on the amount of color and light radiating from the space. Near the entryway was a staircase and beyond that she could see part of a dining room and then a kitchen through the arched walls. A large Christmas tree stood half decorated next to the fireplace that the living room furniture was oriented around. The mantle of the fireplace was partially decorated too, a half open box below it containing the rest of the trimmings. Another hallway ran off into the depths of the house to her immediate left, containing several doors to unknown rooms. 

Kara stepped down into the living room and took everything in. Her favorite throw pillow, the one she always held when she sat on her own couch was there. An old battered copy of  _ A Christmas Carol _ with a bookmark sticking out of its pages was laying on the coffee table. She had found it in a second-hand bookstore when she was in college and always read that book before Christmas, a chapter a night finishing on Christmas Eve. 

A little nook directly off the foyer contained a very old but professionally restored armoire and there was a door to a small half bathroom. Lena hung her coat in the cabinet and stepped into the living room. “Are you hungry? Technically it’s your night to cook so I don’t have anything laid out but we can order something in.”

“My night?”

“Yes,” Lena said. “We always make sure we have dinner together four times a week. You cook on two and I cook on two.”

“That’s nice. Do you think I can still remember how to cook?” She became concerned with her own life skills suddenly. 

Lena laughed at her. It was nice to see some of the emotion from the car was starting to fade. “Let’s just order in. We’ve had a rough day.”

“Yeah, okay.” Kara clapped her hands to her sides and then awkwardly folded them across her chest, unsure of what to do with herself. Should she sit? Or just stand here like a weirdo? She felt like a guest and was waiting for a cue from Lena on what to do.

Sensing Kara’s uncertainty, Lena waved to one of the couches. “You want to sit? Or would you like to go shower and change while I order us some dinner?”

“A shower would be nice.” She sniffed her armpit and looked down at the clothes she was in that she had retrieved from the laundry hamper that morning. “I don’t actually remember the last time I showered so better safe than sorry.”

Lena smirked and nodded before heading toward the kitchen. 

“Um, Lena?”

“Hmm?” Lena turned, her hair tossing just right and her eyes bright. 

Kara’s breath caught. Rao, she was beautiful, she thought. “Where is the shower exactly?”

Lena chuckled again, realizing her oversight. She pointed to the side of the fireplace to somewhere Kara couldn’t make out from her position. Kara took two steps and peered around the towering fireplace and saw another archway that opened up a hallway. 

“Right.”

The penthouse was much larger than she had anticipated. She realized it must have taken up the majority of the top three floors of the entire building. She passed a room that looked to be a craft room of some sort and then a set of double doors, cracked partially open. She peered through the crack and saw the bedroom from earlier that morning. The lights on either side of the bed were on, dim but providing enough light for her to make her way to the bathroom she had stowed herself away in after her episode. The bed itself had underlighting on its frame providing a modern feel to the room. The glass balcony door and windows that had been opened that morning when she awoke were tightly closed up but through them was one of the best views of National City Kara had ever seen. Dusk always made the city shimmer, the fading oranges and reds of the sky, the deep bluish purple of the bay, and the lights of all the buildings made it feel alive. 

Along one wall was another set of double doors. Kara hesitantly opened them. She felt like she was snooping or trespassing though she reminded herself that this was apparently her penthouse too. When the doors opened fully, automatic lights were triggered revealing another room almost the size of the bedroom itself. The closet had floor to ceiling windows opposite of the door providing another spectacular view. It was the largest closet Kara had ever seen in her life. Clearly custom built, it was adorned with shelves and racks of all kinds and the clothes were organized into subsections along the walls. A double dresser was in the center of the room, drawers on opposing sides, forming a division of the room so that both her and Lena had their own sides and spaces. The top of the doubled dresser provided a place where jewelry boxes were spread across the top along with silver pans holding bottles of perfumes and lotions. 

Kara noticed some of her own clothes on the left side of the closet and walked along that side, letting her fingers run along both the clothes she was familiar with and new ones that to her memory she didn’t know. Like the right side of the closet, Lena’s side, Kara’s side was divided into five divided cubbies where clothes were organized by purpose. But unlike Lena’s side, her middle subsection had no clothes. There was only a dark wood panel. Something drew Kara to it. She just couldn’t help but touch the wood for some reason. When she did there was a sound of hissing air and the panel folded itself up revealing a secret compartment behind it. A full Supergirl suit was hung in it and her red boots standing at the ready just beneath the suit. The suit was darker in color, still red and blue, but darker. There was no cape but that’s not the detail that she focused on.

“Pants?!”

She grabbed the suit and felt the material. It was lighter and cooler on her fingertips than her previous suit. 

“What happened? What’s wrong?” Lena burst into the bedroom, rushing toward the closet. 

“I get to wear pants now?!” Kara asked, giddy like a child. 

Lena clutched at her chest. “God, Kara, you nearly gave me a heart attack.”

“Sorry.” She held up the pant legs of her suit. “It’s just...pants!”

Lena’s laughter sounded like music to Kara’s ears. “You’re such a dork. It’s a good thing I love—” Her sentence cutoff. Her cheeks flushed redder than Kara had ever seen before. “I’ll let you keep doing what you’re doing.”

Kara’s own cheeks were hot from Lena’s almost declaration. She let the compartment with her suit close on its own and took a deep breath to try and slow her rapidly beating heart. It took her several moments to focus enough on finding something she could feel comfortable in. In one of the drawers she found her favorite pair of flannel pajama pants and in another a familiar tank top. A sports bra was found in a separate set of drawers. The presence of known clothes calmed her nerves yet confused her even more. If this was all some elaborate scheme then it was being done very well, she had to admit. Or if this really was her life then she was missing some of the most crucial events of it. That possibility saddened her. And she didn’t know what was worse: the thought that all of this was fake or that the sadness if it was true. 

****

A great buffet of Indian food was spread across the coffee table when Kara emerged from the master suite. Lena was clearly used to ordering food for Supergirl. And it looked like she had ordered even more since Kara had not eaten at all. The smell of the food mixed deliciously with the smell of the holiday candles that were lit on the fireplace mantle and the bar over which she could see more of the kitchen. 

Kara heard a whirl of some electronic device income from the part of the kitchen she couldn’t see and then the pop of a cork. Not sure what to do with herself, she sat on the couch glancing around as if someone would scream and tell her not there, that wasn’t allowed. But it was the most comfortable thing Kara had ever sat on. She eased further back on to it, leaning her head on the back of it, her eyes closed in an effort to orient herself in this place. It was so cozy and warm, exactly what she’d want out of a home. She could feel part of her ease into the setting as if she knew it was safe and she belonged but another part of her was so taken aback by the newness and the unknown. 

Lena came around the corner and started at the sight of Kara sitting cross legged on the couch. “Did you remember?” she asked.

“Remember what?”

“That is your spot. You always sit there. Did you remember that?”

Kara looked around in search of something that must have clearly told her this information. Finding none she responded, “It just felt right?”

“Oh. I guess I had hoped something had clicked.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Me too.”

This surprised Kara. “What are you sorry about?”

Lena bit her lip. “I’m not sure. Maybe I’ve come on too strong today.”

“No. You’re doing what you normally do. The problem is me.” She stood and took the wine bottle from Lena’s hand and placed it on the table. Now with Lena’s hands free she took each into her own, the first voluntary touch she had given her, and squeezed them gently. “This feels so right and yet so wrong at the same time. And I don’t want to hurt you while I figure this out.”

“What can I do?”

Kara shook her head not really knowing what she was going to do herself and definitely not knowing what someone else could do. “Be patient with me?”

Lena nodded and tried to smile. “Are you hungry?” She scoffed at herself and wiped the edges of her eyes. “I mean, I know you’re always hungry. But do you want to eat?”

“Please.”

They knelt down at the coffee table and passed different take out containers to one another. They ate in silence though both attempted to start a conversation. Neither quite knew what to say to the other. 

Only after Kara’s third helping, did she figure out what to say. “What do we usually do?”

Lena wiped her mouth and finished chewing. “Tuesday nights are your nights to cook. I come home around seven and we eat. Then it depends on our mood, I suppose. And of course this month is different.” She gestured to the half decorated tree. “On our nights home together we’ve been planning and decorating for the Christmas party. And you’ve been reading me  _ A Christmas Carol _ .”

“Christmas party?”

“Mhmm. We bought this penthouse right before Christmas and threw a party, kind of a half Christmas party and half housewarming party. Everyone enjoyed it so much we were asked to do it the next year, and now this year again. Though maybe we should cancel it because of...all of this.”

“When is the party?”

“It’s supposed to be on Thursday.”

Kara loved the holidays. Halloween to New Years was her favorite time of the year. She was all about decorating, throwing parties, gift giving, and especially the food. Even though she felt out of place she still felt that desire to engage in the season, like it was inherent to her person. “I’d hate to ruin everyone else’s fun just because of me. And clearly you’ve been working hard getting ready.”

“Are you sure you’re up for that?” Lena asked. She stacked their plates and closed some of the cartons that still contained food. 

“Alex said to go about things as if normal. If this is normal then let’s do it.”

Lena beamed. She pulled a tablet toward her, waking it up and propping it in the newly cleaned space on the coffee table. “We pretty much have it all set. We need to finish decorating.” She scrolled through a to-do list where most items were crossed off. 

“See, it’d be a waste to cancel it now. You’ve already worked so hard.” Kara could see food orders, party gifts, music selection, and activities all listed on Lena’s to-do list. 

“We did.”

“What?”

“We did,” Lena repeated. “We always do this together. We do almost everything together, actually.”

“Tell me. What else do we do?”

Lena bit her lip again and it gave Kara the intense urge to press forward and kiss her. “Are you sure it won’t cause you pain?”

Kara weighed the possibility. “So far people telling me what has happened hasn’t made my head hurt. It’s trying to remember it all on my own that seems to be the problem.”

“Right. Well, what do you want to know?”

Everything, she wanted to say but at the same time she was nervous to know. “What other things do we do together?”

Lena thought for a minute. “We read a lot together. We plan our presents to others together. Of course we do presents for each other separately. We make it a point to try a new recipe once a week that we do together.”

The life Lena was describing sounded so nice and fulfilling. Lena was about to continue her list but Kara wanted to know something special. “What’s your favorite thing that we do together?”

“Technically I love everything we do. Except for when you fly me places as Supergirl. I don’t like that much.”

“When did I tell you? How did I tell you?” Kara laughed at her eagerness. “I can’t believe you know.”

“You just blurted it out, actually,” Lena said. “We just had our first kiss. I was leaning in to kiss you again and you practically screamed it into my face.”

“Oh, Rao.” Kara buried her face into her hands in embarrassment for her previous self. “That’s unfortunate and not at all what I thought I would’ve done. What happened then?”

Lena reached over and pulled Kara’s hands from her face. “I kissed you again and pulled you into my apartment building.”

Kara winced in pain. A flash of Lena’s face close to hers. And she heard the music again. “I think...I think I remember that…”

“You do?” Lena asked, more hopeful than any other time that day. “Don’t push yourself too much. That’s good, though. A relief.”

Listening to the advice, Kara backed away from the memory. The pain eased but she wanted to test it more. She wanted to know more about her missing life. “Tell me more. Please? What’s your absolute favorite thing?” she asked again.

Lena thought for a moment. “I like our movie tradition the most. I love that time we spend together.”

“Do we have movie nights?” Kara liked the sound of that. 

“Sort of. At the beginning of the year we look at all the movies that are set to come out in the next few months and select the ones we want to see. Then we plan out our schedule based on the release dates. We always make a night out of it. Dinner but we always make sure to leave room for your popcorn obsession.”

Kara laughed. “Gotta use that popcorn bucket deal.”

“Do you…,” Lena stilled and studied Kara’s face intently again, “did you remember that?” Though she loved the fact that her and Kara discussed plot lines and the writing, and got to have some time just the two of them, some of her favorite memories of those nights were sharing the popcorn with Kara, playfully throwing pieces at each other before or after the movie, the taste of the salty butter on Kara’s lips when they got back in the car or when Kara pushed her up against the door before they walked into their penthouse. 

“No, sorry. I always get the popcorn bucket at the movie theater. At least in my memory I did.”

“Oh.” There was so much disappointment in that single syllable. “I’m sorry I keep jumping on the littlest things. I’m hoping for you to remember”

“I’m sorry I don’t remember them.” She felt awful, like she had led Lena on in some way. 

“You said October 2017 was around the time things aren’t painful?”

“Somewhere in there. I remember a game night very well but not the days after. Alex and I think it was about October 2017.”

“So you don’t remember us at all.” Lena’s voice caught in her throat. “At least not fully.”

“I’m trying really hard to put it together, I promise.”

“You don’t remember our first date or our first family event together. Our first kiss or our first...time…” Lena blushed hard again. “You don’t remember our engagement or our wedding, our anniversaries and birthdays and Christmases.”

“Lena, I’m so sorry.”

“I finally get you and we have five of the best years of my life, at least.” Tears spilled from her eyes. Her emotions were shot. The confusion of the morning, the worry as she paced the DEO all afternoon as Alex ran tests, the uncertainty of bringing Kara home, and the glimpses of their normal life in some of Kara’s behaviors that gave her faint hope. “And it doesn’t even exist for you.”

Kara didn’t know what to say. She was just as frustrated.

“I’m sorry,” Lena said again. “This is probably harder on you and here I am lamenting about it.”

“No, don’t apologize. I’m sorry too. I hate that I can’t remember those things. Trust me, I want to.”

“I don’t want to lose you,” Lena whispered. She had folded herself up, her knees to her chest and her arms hugging her body together. “We’ve fought so hard, done so much.”

Kara eased herself around the coffee table and mimicked Lena’s folded up position right next to her. After a moment, Lena leaned her head over onto her shoulder and Kara felt no hesitation in resting her head on Lena’s in return.


	11. Chapter 11

Kara awoke to the smell of coffee. She was reluctant to open her eyes. She had the most lucid dream of Lena. Her dreams were always haunted by Lena but usually they filled with regret and sorrow. This dream was pleasant though. At least she thought it was as the dream slipped further away with consciousness. She could feel Lena next to her, smell her hair as they rested their heads together. She needed just one more minute with Lena. One more minute before she had to get ready for CatCo, one more before she had to live a life that felt more like a sentence, one more before she had to face Mon-El. 

Mon-El. 

She gasped, sitting up and grabbing at her head. There was no pain. But now there was a flood of confusion. She wasn’t in her bed nor in her own home. She wasn’t in the DEO bunker either. Her breaths came and went frantically. She had no memory of this place or how she had gotten here. She did remember the destruction, the plasma projectiles, the images of National City’s skyline crumbling. Then she remembered Mxy. The prophecy.

Scrambling from the couch she was on, she tripped over a coffee table and up the two steps out of the sunken living room. She was in her own clothes but she didn’t know why she was in pajamas.

“Kara? Are you okay?” 

Lena came around the corner, concern and worry all over her face. She was in pajamas and had a spatula in her hand. 

“Oh, shit,” Kara exclaimed. “Oh, shit. You’re real.” She skidded to what she assumed was the front door and tried to pull it open. Realizing it was still locked, she fumbled with the handle and then the panel next to the door. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Lena now full of disappointment and defeat. The door clicked and she focused back on it. When it opened she came face to face with her sister. She cried out and fell back to the floor. 

“I see we’re having a good morning,” Alex said as she stepped over Kara’s legs into the apartment. She waved at Lena who sadly smiled back before disappearing into the kitchen again. 

“Alex, I remember things!” Kara hissed. She not only remembered her own timeline but she also remembered her previous day in this one. And there was no pain, thankfully. 

Alex dropped her purse onto the coffee table and moved the pillow and blanket that Kara had used the night before so that she could sit on the couch. “Good, that’s an improvement. You want to talk about it?”

Kara pulled herself off the floor and got close to her sister. “I don’t want Lena to know. I can’t hurt her anymore.”

Alex studied her face and then nodded. “What do you remember?”

“I’m not your Kara, this place’s Kara.”

“What?” Alex pulled back a little and put herself in a defensive position. The person before her looked like her sister, just a sister who was in hysterics like yesterday.

“I’m Kara but I’m not this timeline’s Kara.”

“Okay…”

“You have to help me. You have to help me save my timeline!”

“Alex, do you want something?” Lena came around the corner with a plate of food. Her eyes flitted between the sisters trying to infer the situation. Alex looked like she was either repulsed by Kara or preparing to fight her and Kara looked eager but like she was hiding something. 

Alex reclined herself back on the couch like she would in a normal visit. She smiled as Lena sat the plate on the coffee table. “No, I’m good. We’re all good. Right, Kara?”

“Yep. Sorry, Lena. I woke up disoriented. I didn’t mean to scare you.” She gave what she hoped was a convincing smile. Lena didn’t look like she truly believed it but she smiled back nonetheless.

When Lena had returned to the kitchen, Alex leaned toward Kara again. “You’re not from here?”

“No! That’s why I don’t remember things because I wasn’t here when those things happened!”

“How did you get here?”

“It’s a long story. I don’t know how much time I have here but I need your help.”

“What’s happening in your timeline?”

“The world is being torn apart by a group called Cadmus led by or helped by or funded by, I don’t know, but the Luthors are in on it. When I went to sleep the night before last I was in a DEO bunker because National City was a war zone and so were other cities in the world. When I woke up, I was in bed with Lena. In this timeline!”

“How did you get here?” Alex asked again, wanting specifics. “Like literally, how did you get here?” Though skeptical, the story Kara was telling makes sense. Though she herself had not done a great deal of space and time jumping, those DEO agents who had had reported serious head pains and memory issues. She should have thought of it before when she was running tests on Kara yesterday. 

“Some fifth dimensional being did it. I don’t know how long he’s leaving me here before he comes back.” She glanced over the bar where she saw Lena prepping another plate. She lowered her voice even more. “Look, it’s complex. We’ve got to get to the DEO so I can fully brief you.”

“Alright. But if we are going to keep Lena in the dark then act as,” she gestured toward the front door where Kara had made a scene, “if things are normal. Calm.”

“You believe me, right? You’ll help me?” Kara pleaded. 

“I will. Now eat your breakfast and be nice to your wife.”

****

Alex made their excuses to Lena under the guise of doing more testing because of Kara’s outburst. She assured Lena that Kara was fine, this was all a precaution. They promised to meet her at L-Corp later on. Kara had done her part, kissing Lena’s cheek before they left and echoing Alex’s assurances that everything would be okay. 

This time on their walk to the DEO Kara paid attention to all that was around her. She waved at the guy in the lobby and acted as if things were normal. She needed to get used to doing this so that she could find her answers. But she couldn’t stop the flood of questions for Alex. 

“Why are Lena and I’s initials in the lobby?” She asked when they stepped out into the bright December morning. The skies were a clear winter blue, clean and cool. She wanted to fly to the DEO but Alex, who like Lena hated when Supergirl carried her, shot it down instantly. 

“Because you and Lena’s company owns it. And a good chunk of National City for that matter.”

“Our company?”

Alex laughed. “Well, one of them.”

She tugged Kara’s hoodie to follow her down the sidewalk. “Yes, you and Lena have several companies. I can’t keep up with it all. But you both pretty much stay at L-Corp.”

“When I’m not at CatCo you mean?”

“Your version in this timeline no longer works at CatCo.”

“Why?” She loved being a journalist despite how frustrating it was at times and couldn’t imagine leaving it. 

“That’s how you and Lena did all of this.” Alex gestured around pointing out the greenery of the city and the automatic street and sidewalk cleaners Kara had noticed the day before. But there was now solar powered trams and self watering landscaping. They passed an artificial anti-pollution tree that read  _ A better, cleaner air for you and yours _ with the L-Corp logo below it. An advertisement on one of the buildings reminded citizens that the city would be launching a new and free high speed internet service for everyone. 

“You two started dating,” Alex continued, “and then you started helping Lena with projects. You liked it so much Lena eventually poached you for good.”

“What do I do there?”

“Mainly marketing. Putting those journalism skills to good use by showing off all of L-Corp’s good work. And then, because you’re the smart Kryptonian, you helped on all of the extraterrestrial projects the Lena consulted on for the ULMY.”

Kara felt like she was back in middle school where everyone was speaking in a strange language about topics she had no knowledge about. It was overwhelming. She sighed. “The ULMY?”

“Sorry. The United Legions of the Milky Way.”

“What is that?”

“It is the governmental body for our galaxy. Many of the solar systems in our galaxy and their inhabitants have formed a coalition. Kind of like the U.N. Lena is a top consultant for our solar system since you all built the space elevators, L-Corp was the primary entity to finance all the space stations...and because Lena has a special connection to Supergirl.” She winked. 

“It’s amazing. And in such a short amount of time.”

“When you told Lena that you were Supergirl and you both started collaborating with one another it gave everyone hope. If a Luthor and a Super could work together then surely humans and aliens could. I didn’t know who would have a heart attack first, your cousin or Lena’s mother.” Alex laughed. They had made it to the DEO and she stood with the door open to the lobby. “Kara?”

But Kara had stopped in the plaza at Alex’s last words. A Luthor and a Super. 

_ This duo, once forbidden by family, will create a dynasty of their own. _

“It was Lena. This whole time. It was Lena.”

Alex let the door shut and came back to Kara. “What was Lena?”

“I was supposed to choose Lena.”

“Choose?”

Kara focused back on this timeline. “I have a lot to tell you.”

This time she is the one who led the way into the DEO, on a mission to get more of her answers.

************************************************************************************

The prophecy was written across a board, this time it was a giant glass board that showed whatever Alex wrote on her tablet instantaneously. They had ordered more breakfast and the remnants of it were scattered across the conference table. Alex had been through four cups of coffee and Kara had taken a throw pillow she had found on a couch in Alex’s private office and was squeezing it as she swung back and forth in the conference room chair. 

She had told her everything. The strange attacks where she got the messages and the relics, the visit by Mxy and his interpretation of the prophecy. Her marriage to Mon-El and how it had fallen apart and how they had taped it back together for the sake of the prophecy. The plasma attacks and Mxy’s second visit. She talked for hours. Alex occasionally interjected a question, asking for clarification on a point, but she was a rapt audience nonetheless. 

“That is quite a story.” Alex whistled after Kara was done. “I can’t even imagine you with someone else. Mon-El...I don’t really remember him. He left not too long after he got here. He pissed J’onn off something awful and asked to go to a different planet. We were just about to send our initial team to the first space station and he went with them. Him and Winn. Pretty sure Winn said that he disappeared after they visited a moon of Jupiter. It’s odd what one decision can do.” 

“Mxy said it was like that. It’s not really one decision but a series of them. If I don’t date Lena then she leaves National City. If she leaves National City she doesn’t find out I’m Supergirl and they don’t work together. And so on.”

“So now you think you should have married Lena? That’s what would have prevented Cadmus from attacking?”

“I’m sure of it now. I’m so stupid, I should have seen it years ago.” She read through the second part of the prophecy. “‘ _ A pairing of second chances _ ’ another chance for a Luthor and a Super after Kal and Lex...‘ _ once forbidden by family, will create a dynasty of their own’ _ look at everything Lena and this Kara have achieved…”

“‘ _ Save not one but many worlds, _ ’” Alex provided. 

“What does that mean?”

“One of the first missions of the ULMY was to achieve peace in a neighboring system that had been in a civil war for years. Supergirl and Lena were the most instrumental in negotiating that peace and helping provide economic and social stability. When the rest of the planets saw the quick turnaround and the advantages a lot of them stopped fighting and started collaborating.” Alex typed something on her tablet and a news article appeared on the glass board with a headline  _ Lena Luthor and Supergirl: Power Duo and Saviors of Intergalactic Peace _ .

“Oh my God. It’s all my fault.”

“Sounds like it was partly my fault too. That Alex agreed with your decision. And to be honest I don’t blame you or her. With what information you had I don’t know if I would have picked Lena.”

“I could have had her and happiness, and saved the world. But I fucked it up.”

“Kara…” Alex left her seat and chose one next to her sister. She put her hands on the armrest, stopping Kara’s swinging of her chair. “You didn’t do it on purpose. And we can’t wallow or else we can’t fix your timeline. Yeah, you chose wrong. But you’ve been given the opportunity to fix it. So let’s fix it.”

Kara blinked and shook her head. “It doesn’t make sense.”

“What doesn’t make sense?”

“Mxy...When he first came to the DEO he said he was drawn by the prophecy to Earth. He was giddy to see it. But then after the attack on National City years later, he was more serious. He made the prophet sound like some sort of warlord ruling over the universe, that he’d lost a lot because of this prophet. ”

“That’s the part that rubbed me the wrong way too. If he is so hellbent on destroying this prophet guy then why not tell you what choice you needed to make, fulfill the prophecy and thwart the prophet. Then once Earth was saved you could team up and go after this Tiresias.”

“He said he didn’t know who I should have picked.”

“But he could have easily looked, right? Fifth dimensional beings can go in and out of space and time. Rather easily from my experience. It would have been simple for him to find out the answer and help you.” 

“He said he could but that he wouldn’t do it because he couldn’t put himself in Tiresias’s path. Something about there being a terrible price to pay.” 

“What price?”

“He didn’t say,” Kara groaned in frustration. She felt very uneasy, a ball of regret and anxiety building in her stomach. It was like she knew the answer but couldn’t face it. 

“Look, Kara,” Alex too acted as if she knew what was afoot but was having a hard time saying it. “In our new interactions with the people of other planets, the DEO has gotten to experience a great deal of our universe. These fifth dimensional beings are not known for their honesty.”

“You think he lied to me?”

“I think he misled you. But I’ve never heard of prophecies and you’d think that with our new knowledge of the universe that we’d have discovered more.”

“What if in this timeline I had helped Mxy stop Tiresias and that’s why you don’t see any more prophecies.”

“Vasquez pulled all the records we have from October 2017. There was no attack at National City Trust Bank, no earthquake days later. We can’t even find a record of Lena hosting a gala let alone for the purpose of raising money for events we know didn’t happen. None of that happened which means no prophecy. And even if you got one and you went and battled some extraterrestrial prophet I would have known about it. The DEO would have been involved.”

“So what happened in October 2017?”

“Nothing eventful in the DEO records. Except for you telling Lena you were Supergirl. It took some convincing for J’onn but we worked it out.”

“Why did you come around? About Lena, I mean.”

“I didn’t want you to be unhappy. I saw how happy you both made each other, we all did.” Alex’s eyebrows knitted together as she remembered something. “It was actually, now that I think about it, something Maggie had said to me. Her and Lena were becoming close and she told me of a conversation they had had. Something about how Lena had always known she was different from her family, that from an early age she knew she’d do anything to help the world. Actually, I think she said the universe. I don’t know, it’s been so long. But whatever it was it convinced me.”

Lena had left National City not too long after the last message, Kara thought back. She had a business opportunity and went back to Metropolis. Because of that Maggie and Lena and thus Maggie and Alex never had that conversation so the path to her and Lena’s relationship was never made. If Kara had not gone to L-Corp that afternoon, if she had let the prophecy sit for a bit then maybe Alex and Maggie would have had that conversation, maybe that Alex would have seen the prophecy differently. 

“Why did your timeline get a prophecy and not this one?” Alex asked.

Kara shook her head. “I don’t know.”

“Do you think his deal could have been blackmail?” Alex asked, the questions were flooding her brain. 

“Mxy’s?”

“Yeah. Do you think that maybe he gave you enough truth about the prophecy and then misled you just enough so you’d pick wrong?”

Kara shook her head. “But what does he get out of that? He acted upset about losing Earth.” But was he really upset? No, not really, she thought. It was more of an act. 

“Technically he got you to agree to help him against Tiresias. What was the deal again?”

“He said he’d take me somewhere to get the answers I needed to make the right choice and to learn how to help him stop Tiresias.”

“And you said yes?”

Kara waved around. “I’m here.”

“You said he wouldn’t give you more details about Tiresias but he insisted that he needed to be stopped.”

Kara nodded. 

“It’s possible, though I could be wrong, that he led you astray, knowing you’d do anything to fix your timeline. Then got you to agree to help him against the prophet which is what he wanted all along.”

“Yeah, I guess.” She was mad at herself again. Had she been swindled? “If that’s true, so what? I help him stop the prophet.”

“But why didn’t he just ask you in the first place, Kara? Why do all of this and then ask?”

She shrugged.

“Because he knew you’d say no,” Alex concluded. “I think it’s time we tell Lena. We’re going to need her and her resources.”

************************************************************************************

In this timeline, L-Corp now took up an entire city block. Buildings had been added, connected to the original white tower that loomed over the rest of the buildings of the skyline. According to Alex, this was just the main hub. Lena had converted many of Lex’s other LuthorCorp buildings and holdings into productive gears in the L-Corp machine. Like the DEO, L-Corp headquarters was vast above ground, but even larger underneath the streets and buildings. Tunnels connected labs and workplaces. Alex showed her a tunnel that was built especially for her, connecting the DEO and L-Corp so she could move easily between the two. 

Alex led the way to what Kara remembered to be the direction of Lena’s office. But Lena’s floor had been remodeled. It was more open and now there were four executive suites, one in each corner. Unlike the entry floor of L-Corp or the hallways of the DEO, this space was quiet. Each executive suite had a large secretary work space where four individuals were hard at work at their respective desks. Kara saw Jess outside of one of them and waved. It felt good to see someone familiar again. 

Another secretary stood as Kara approached, a pile of files and message notes in her hands. “Good morning, Ms. Danvers. Ms. Luthor wasn’t sure you’d be joining us today. Are you feeling better?”

Kara smiled as if nothing was wrong. “Much. Thank you...er…”

“Rachel,” Alex coughed from behind her. 

“Rachel,” Kara finished. 

She wasn’t sure whether she should enter the office or not but Alex took the lead and opened the door for her. 

“Rachel, could you get us some menus and let Ms. Luthor know that we are here?” Alex asked. 

“Of course, Agent Danvers.” Rachel set the pile down on a beautiful wood desk in the room and left as quickly as she came. 

Kara looked around the room, impressed by how comfortable it was. Although Lena’s office was modern and chic, something even Kara admitted was beautiful, it just wasn’t for her. But this office was exactly her. Darker colors, though the room was still bright. Paintings and plants, bean bags and, to Kara’s delight, a couch just like the one at her and Lena’s penthouse full of throw pillows. She sat in the large chair behind the desk and moaned at how comfortable it was. “This is a nice set up.”

Alex laughed at her. “Yeah, you live the good life. We both do.” 

There was a quiet knock on the door and then it opened. Lena strutted in, full business attire looking ravishing. “Am I interrupting?”

“No, we were waiting for you,” Alex said as she sat on the couch across.

Rachel followed Lena in and handed a set of menus to Alex. “Can I get you anything else, Ms. Danvers?”

“Um…” Kara looked to Lena and Alex to make sure it was okay for her to reply. “No, I think we’re good.”

“How are you feeling?” Lena asked. She approached Kara but stopped before getting too close, she didn’t want to trigger any outbursts or pain. Her hands reflexively reached toward Kara before falling awkwardly back to her sides. 

“Better. I’m sorry about this morning.” She took Lena’s hand to show her it was all okay. 

Lena smiled brightly, pleased with this news and Kara’s touch. “I think you’ve apologized about a hundred times in the last twenty-fours hours.”

“Sorry,” Kara said, blushing.

“Lena, Kara and I need to talk to you about what’s been going on. Can L-Corp stand to be without you for a bit?”

Lena nodded. “Let me tell Jess. I had already cleared most of my day in case Kara wasn’t feeling better.”

Alex ordered them all lunch and it was delivered by the time Lena had returned to Kara’s office. They ate in silence for a few moments, the only interruption was Rachel or Jess delivering the last of Lena’s work that she needed to get done before she could be free of work for the afternoon. 

There was a definite tension in the air as they wrapped up their trash from lunch. Kara stood and then paced the area between the little sitting area and the desk. She shut her eyes hard and then opened them again hoping the task before her would be easier. When she turned and faced Lena, she actually felt her confidence grow. She finally knew how to get Lena back and they together could do so much good. But first she needed help to execute that plan. 

The words spilled out, faster and faster once she got going. Alex occasionally stepped in to assist her when some detail was better explained technically but for the most part Kara handled it all on her own. They were honest about everything. 

To her credit, Lena never once spoke. Just as Alex had done that morning, Lena was a great student, listening eagerly and focusing on nothing but the task at hand. The only time Lena had had a reaction is when Kara mentioned her choice of Mon-El - Lena’s breath had caught and she swallowed hard, trying to control the jealousy and anger that boiled instantly in her veins. 

With the details out in the open, all of Alex and her’s theories, and what they thought they needed to go forward, Kara sat on the edge of her desk and waited for Lena to respond. Lena looked her directly in the face, studying her. After what seemed like eternity, Lena licked her lips. She uncrossed her legs, stepped out of her heels, and then folded her legs underneath her, getting more comfortable. 

“How can I help?”


	12. Chapter 12

“Merry Christmas!” Kara opened the door to another group of guests. The penthouse was packed with people that Lena and Alex swore Kara knew but she, of course, had no memory of. When she got lost in the sea of strange faces, she tried to find her way back to Lena or Vasquez who now knew of her little issue. So far she had been successful in playing off her missing knowledge of this timeline. The key, Alex had said, was to always turn it back on the person. Keep asking them questions because once they started talking about themselves it was hard to stop. 

“Hello, Kara!” said one of the women who entered. She hugged Kara tightly, as if they were close friends so Kara hugged back just as enthusiastically. 

“Come in, come in! Let me take your coats.” Keep busy, be the hostess and you won’t have time to be asked questions, she thought. This plan was working. And it was helping Lena out. Anything to make Lena happy. 

The doorbell rang again as Kara laid out the latest batch of coats on one of the guest beds. She was impressed by how big this party was and that her and Lena tackled it on their own. She smiled at a couple that were standing with drinks and small plates of finger foods next to the little nook by the front door. She laughed at whatever the man had said, not really paying attention. 

This time when she opened the front door she knew the guests. “Hey sis.”

Alex and Kelly shimmied out of their own coats as they made their way into the door. 

Kelly took Kara’s arm and got close to her face. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m okay, no more pain.” She pulled Kelly into the guest bedroom to put their coats down. Here they were alone. “Does that mean you know...like everything?”

“That you’re here from another timeline?”

“That and…”

Kelly laughed again. “Yes, I know you’re Supergirl. Is that alright with you?”

Kara breathed out a sigh of relief. “Of course. Sorry. It’s just that you don’t know in my timeline and being here is confusing enough as it is. Trying to who knows and what they know is a lot.”

“I can imagine. Jumping timelines can cause severe psychological distress. I’ve treated a client before who had accidentally done it while working on a space station. Learn what you can here but make sure you remember who you are there.”

“Right.”

Kelly grabbed her shoulders and rubbed them. “You’ll need to be careful when you go back in time as well. You will have knowledge that some won’t be ready for and some things will need to play out naturally, without your help. Letting it all just happen will lessen the burden on you and won’t strain your relationships.” 

Kara was confused. “I have to go back and pick Lena.”

“Yes, you do. But there are other people in your life, people who have very different lives now, that wouldn’t believe you or may not reach their intended life if you told them.”

Then it dawned on Kara. “Like Alex.”

Kelly smiled, but it was sad. “And Lena. What would you do if someone came to you and said ‘I’ve seen your future and we’re married so let’s get on with it’?” 

“I’d probably be creeped out.”

“Exactly. The experiences we have, feeling them truly is what helps us grow. The option of free choice or the belief that we have free choice is powerful. If someone took a magic wand and gave you all the answers we’d let life happen to us rather than engage in it. And it's that engagement that makes us who we’re supposed to be.” 

Kara nodded but swallowed hard. Now the pressure of fixing her timeline was even greater. She never gave thought to what she’d do outside of picking Lena. But now she had to do it all in a way so she didn’t mess anything else up.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” Kelly said. “We just haven’t had time to talk yet. And Alex has been more concerned with other aspects of you going back.”

Kara pushed her new worries down. “No, I’m glad you told me. It’s important. Thank you.”

Kelly hugged her again and kissed her cheek. “You are stronger than you think. You can do this.”

They left the guest bedroom and returned to the party. Kelly joined Alex at the wet bar but Kara chose to stay in the corner watching the entire room of friends and loved ones. This was the life she had in store for her if she could pull this off. Everyone in this room had happy, smiling faces. And even though they each had their own problems, whether personal or maybe at work, internal struggles, relationship problems, bills...they were living life. Images of National City burning, the sound of people screaming - Kara blinked it away. She had to save them all. 

She caught Lena’s eye from across the room. 

_ Are you okay? _ She mouthed. 

Kara smiled and nodded. 

Lena’s eyes didn’t leave hers and the longer they looked at each other, the further the presence of the people at the party slipped from Kara’s perception. There was only Lena. There had only ever been Lena. Her heart started pounding harder and the craving to hold Lena intensified. Lena must have felt it too. She swallowed hard and then bit her lip, her eyes never leaving Kara’s. 

“And now to thank our gracious hosts,” some man by the name of Gregory was standing in the middle of the living room, his announcement was enough to pull her back to the party. 

Gregory’s wife, who’s name Kara couldn’t recall, pulled her from the corner and escorted her to Lena’s side.

“Lena, Kara, thank you for all you do. You friends and family are blessed by your presence and by your love. Thank you for bringing us all together.” He raised his glass then. “To Lena and Kara.”

“To Lena and Kara,” the room echoed. 

Kara felt her cheeks flare. 

“To you, my love,” Lena whispered before she downed the rest of the wine in her glass. 

****

The party had been a success. At least, to Kara it was. She didn’t remember the previous ones but she had had a good time and thought everyone else had as well. There was something so satisfying about the accomplishment of a finished party. She was overwhelmed by the social engagement, anyone would with a large group of strangers where she had to fake being a different person, but as it all wound down she was proud of what they had done. With the last plate in the dishwasher, she closed it and dried her hands. She attempted to start it but gave up after a minute of examining the touch panel with more options than a NASA spaceship. She’d have to ask Lena for help like she had done with practically everything else. The technology advancement in the few years between this timeline and what she remembered of her’s still impressed her. 

She found Lena sitting on the terrace, wrapped in a blanket with her legs folded beneath her. The only part of her body exposed to the cool wind other than her head was her hands that were wrapped around a large mug of tea. Kara started to ask about the dishwasher when she saw Lena wipe a tear from her face. 

“Lena?”

Lena started and then laughed as another tear fell from the brim of her eyes. “God, you scared me.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. You’d think I’d be used to it. You do it all the time with your sneaky super stealth.”

“I’m sure I don’t do it on purpose,” Kara insisted. She never wanted to unnerve or make her feel uncomfortable and she was sure her counterpart in this timeline felt the same.

Lena smiled softly. “I know you don’t. Did you need something?”

Kara didn’t want to pry but she wanted to make sure Lena was not upset with her. “I...I can’t figure out how to start the dishwasher.”

This caused a real genuine laugh from Kara. “Well, at least that hasn’t changed between timelines.”

Kara hung her head in embarrassed defeat. 

“I’ll start it before I go to bed,” Lena continued. She took a sip of her tea and tried to gather her emotions.

“Lena? Did I do something wrong?” Kara could see how much effort she was putting into not crying in front of her.

What poise Lena had mustered was suddenly dashed with that question. Her voice trembled. “No, Kara. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Kara took a step toward the terrace couch. When Lena unfolded herself to make room, she took it as an invitation that she could sit. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Fix us in your timeline.” She took another sip and thought for a moment. “I keep trying to imagine a life without you and I can’t. It’s too painful. I was so lonely before I met you. I had everything in the world and yet nothing. I dated, I had relationships. I stayed single for periods of time and devoted my time to my company and to charity work. But the pieces of my life didn’t click until you. I finally got to become the person I want to be, grow the way I wanted to grow with you by my side.”

Kara reached out and took her hand. 

“And now I’m trying to think of what the Lena in your timeline has become or has done. It makes me so so sad.” More tears spilled. “In a weird way it’s like I can feel her. I can feel her pain. I know that’s stupid…”

“No, I get it.”

“You must think I’m crazy. Crying for a version of me I don’t know or will never know.”

“I’ve never thought a single bad thing about you. In this timeline or my real one.”

Lena turned, setting the mug down on the table in front of the couch. “You have to fix us.”

“I will, Lena. I promise. I’ll travel to every single timeline that exists to make sure we’re together if I have to. I will find you no matter when or where it is, whether I have to fight an entire army or join a cult, or eat a pound of kale,” she laughed at herself. “No matter what. I promise.”

Lena apparently didn’t find her kale bit funny. She was focused on something past Kara, her eyes unfocused and her eyebrow slowly raising in an epiphany. “What did you just say?”

“I said I’d eat a pound of kale for you. Sorry, I was trying to lighten the mood.”

“No before that. Something about a…” She grabbed Kara’s hand. “I think I know where we can find some answers.” 

************************************************************************************

It was Christmas Eve, two days after the Christmas party, when Lena finally let her in on the epiphany she had had that night. Lena had spent that entire time practically locked in her office at L-Corp. Through the glass wall Kara could see her working hard, on and off both her cell and office phone, her printer churning out a constant stream of paper which she annotated and organized in a binder and none of that even included the work Lena had across her tablet and desktop. 

Kara once brought up a cup of Lena’s favorite holiday coffee, something she had remembered from her own timeline and that made Lena blush. She knocked on the door but Lena acted as if she hadn’t even heard it.

“Don’t bother,” Jess said coming up behind her. “She’s completely in the zone and oblivious to everything else.”

“She works too hard.”

“Tell her that. I haven’t seen her like this in a long time. What did you ask her to do anyway?”

Kara was confused. “I didn’t ask her to do anything. She thought she had an answer to something and then has been like this ever since.”

Jess hummed. She was balancing a stack of files and something that looked like an ancient book. Amazingly even with all that was in her hands, she took the coffee from Kara and went to Lena’s door, hitting the handle with her elbow and bumping it open with her hip. “I figured you had asked her to do something. She keeps muttering your name.”

Kara watched Jess deliver the stack and the coffee without even the slightest acknowledgement from Lena. Once Lena’s door was shut again, Jess patted Kara’s shoulder and told her not to worry. For a few moments more, Kara watched Lena hard at work. The only change was when Lena brought the coffee to her lips and left a small smile across them at the taste of what had been delivered. 

****

Kara braced herself as the pod doors hissed. Lena had awoken her before the sun had fully risen and taken her to the space elevator pod station. She was still sleepy but eager to go on this new adventure and to hopefully get answers from Lena. 

A voice filled the small compartment instructing them as the pod readied itself. “Please keep yourself upright at all times. We look forward to your next visit to Earth.”

There was a small count down and then the pod shot up like a rocket. Kara gasped. It was almost as fast as her takeoffs as Supergirl and this had surprised her. Lena, however, leaned casually against the wall, clutching the handgrip that hung down from the ceiling of the pod nearest her. She smirked at Kara’s reactions. 

“Are you going to tell me where we’re going?” Kara asked. She finally had to grab a handgrip to keep herself upright. Though she was Supergirl, the sensation of moving so quickly but not being in control of it made her feel woozy. 

The pod slowed as it entered the space station. When it came to a halt the voice announced their arrival and the doors opened.

“I’m taking you to Callisto.”

“As in the moon?” Kara was impressed.

“Yes, one of Jupiter’s moons.”

“We didn’t bring any bags or anything? How long will it take us to get there.”

Lena smiled at the naive question. “It’ll take us a little more than an hour with all the stops.”

“Really?” She was even more impressed by this.

“I’ve always found it funny that we can travel faster to other places in our solar system than we can on our own planet. The wonders of space and a sensible governing body. We’d have quicker travel on Earth if it wasn’t for the damn politicians,” Lena muttered this last part.

Lena led them through the dock of the space station. Pods were arriving with regularity and people, both human and non-human, were coming and going quickly. If Kara hadn’t known better she would have thought she was in a subway station. They took a left and went down a series of stairs where another dock was located. This one, however, had ships rather than pods. Just like a train station on Earth, individuals lined up at kiosks to buy passage on one of the ships. But Lena led them to the far end of this dock and through a set of doors where she had to present her credentials. Here they entered yet another docking area but this time the ships were larger and far nicer on the outside. The ship Lena led her to had ‘ULMY’ stenciled to its side. 

Almost to the second, Lena was correct on their travel time. They docked at another space station and then took a pod down to the surface of Callisto. Lena took out her phone and examined some message on it. She took a step in one direction and then turned around to go a different direction. 

“Sorry, I’ve never been—”

“Ms. Luthor! Ms. Luthor! This way.”

A purple skinned alien, about four feet tall, came scampering towards them. They had gills lining their neck region and minute horns forming arcs over their bare skull. Kara couldn’t place the species and couldn’t recall ever having seen an alien quite like this.

Lena was not at all bothered by this but rather pleased to see the individual. “Ah, Herren sent help.”

  
“Hello, Ms. Luthor...Ms. Danvers. It is a pleasure to welcome you. I am Vicobzc, personal assistant to Herren. Please, this way.”

They followed Vicobzc through several passageways and out of the pod station where a vehicle was waiting for them. Their drive was a short one and Vicobzc narrated all that they could when he saw Kara’s eager and excited eyes. She was amazed by this world that had been built. When Vicobzc informed them that they were one of the oldest colonies, Kara was in shock. She had no idea that this place had existed and she had prided herself for her knowledge of this galaxy. When she said this aloud, Vicobzc assured her that before the ULMY that very few people knew of their existence. 

The vehicle stopped at what Kara would consider a park of a sort. A gravel pathway led past foriegn shrubbery and stone statues of the species that Vicobzc was. Back into the park, she could make out a seating area under a large canopy. A lone figure sat facing the path that led from the street to this area, waiting patiently. 

They followed Vicobzc down the path. As they approached, the being Kara assumed was Herren rose to greet them. They reached their fist out toward Lena who in turn pressed her own fist to their’s. They spoke quickly in a language Kara had never heard. A swell of awe and pride while watching filled her heart as she watched Lena interact with Herren. 

Following the conversation, Herren held out their fist to Kara. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Danvers. My sorries, I am still computing my languages of Earth.”

“Oh, not a problem at all.” She returned the fist gesture which pleased Herren.

“Sit. Please sit.” Herren gestured to cushioned panels that surrounded the stone table under the canopy. “Lena, I am excited to hear more of this...this…” they searched for some term and Kara had to admit she had no idea what to call it either, “event from you.”

“I’m going to tell Herren, okay?” Lena asked Kara. 

“Yeah, whatever you think is best.”

Lena launched into what sounded like a dramatic story in the foreign language. She sounded sure and confident in her use of the language and Kara was impressed yet again. As she told the story she occasionally gestured to Kara and the notes in the binder she had brought with her. Herren sat in rapt attention, their eyes only ever leaving Lena’s face when she indicated something out of the binder or to Kara. At last she finished breathlessly, a red tint on her cheeks from the effort she had to put into speaking in this language. 

Herren then turned their attention onto Kara and uttered one word. “Tiresias.”

Kara’s blood ran cold. “You know of him?”

“He is quite famous across the galaxy. Many worship him, and his followers are very devout. We have a temple for him here on this moon.”

“Can we go there?” 

Herren and Lena conferred in their secret language. At last, Herren beamed at Kara and told her to follow them. 

They walked back to the vehicle, this time Herren joining them inside and pointing out even more of their offerings of their moon for Kara. They were so pleased to be able to show and teach another about their world. And they were surprisingly at ease with Lena’s explanation that this Kara was from a different timeline. 

The ride in the vehicle was longer this time. They found themselves at the outskirts of the urban setting in which they had arrived. Here there were strange trees forming a wooded area. A little path that would have been missed by anyone who did not know it was there, was what Herren escorted them down. A quarter of a mile from the street, buried amongst the trees and stone, a temple emerged. Stranger vine and flowers crawled up its stoney facade. A spring or creek of some sort could be heard but not seen. As they approached, a figure stepped into the doorway from the interior, a dark hooded robe hiding the individual beneath it. 

Herren greeted the figure who lowered their hood. The figure was humanoid, which surprised Kara. About the average size of a typical person on Earth, the only unique thing Kara could discern was the bright blue eyes. The figure responded warmly to Herren and gestured for them to enter the temple. 

“Kramson has been the keeper of this temple and its records for centuries. He says as a receiver you are welcome to all the knowledge here and within him.” Herren said in wavering English.

“A receiver?” she asked. 

Kramson bowed his head to her and motioned for her to sit in front of an ornate altar. She looked around and found that the walls were not solid but were full of niches with relics just like the ones she had received during her prophecy.

He began speaking very quickly in yet another language Kara could not understand. She looked to Lena for an interpretation but even she was struggling to keep up. Herren, however, was perfectly on pace and once Kramson had finished, translated to Lena who in turn translated for Kara.

“‘I am the curator. It is my charge to observe and record, to index the knowledge that Tiresias has mercifully given us. 

“‘The universe is vast, and those who sought to control all within it once fought a great civil war. No victor emerged. Instead, the universe was divided equally by the Creator among the rulers who fought hardest. Each ruler was given charge of their galaxies and the beings that inhibited them and told to lead them to prosperity. But the Creator also passed punishment for the war the rulers had started: they could never again speak the explicit truth.

“‘Tiresias is our warden, our ruler to light. In this temple we observe, record, and interpret his advice in order to prosper. We safeguard our progress and ensure our survival against those who wish for another civil war among the galaxies and their rulers.’”

Herren stepped forward as Kramson finished. “You have been blessed with the words of Tiresias and this makes you a chosen one in our galaxy. You are automatically one of their kind,” he nodded at Kramson, “your membership granted from the first message given to you by the prophet. And because of that you have rights to all the knowledge of the prophecies before you and the prophet himself.”

“Ask him what happens when someone misinterprets a prophecy.”

Herren translated her message and Kramson bowed his head again.

“‘It is a destructive thing.’”

“Is that why Krypton is gone?” Kara asked impatiently. She saw Lena whip around - she had not told her about what Mxy had said about Krypton. “If you are the interpreters of Tiresias why did you not help them fulfill their prophecy?”

Herren consulted with Kramson who looked disgusted at what was being said. A harsh syllable came from his mouth several times and he spit to the side. 

“Krypton destroyed itself. There was no prophecy for Krypton.”

Kramson launched into another tirade but this time he pulled an ornate book from the altar. He pointed to drawings, immaculately done almost as if they were actual photographs. He gestured and paced, his arms waving the book around. He handed it to Kara and pointed out drawing after drawing of scenes she didn’t know how to interpret. Something about the images struck her like a thunderbolt. There was something about them that made her feel confused yet like she was being given the answers. But she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. 

“What do you think?” Lena whispered. “Anything helpful?”

“I’m not sure. I mean, yes this was helpful in knowing that the phenomenon is not unusual.” She shook her head, flipping through the depictions of the prophecies. “Something about these are familiar. I can’t explain it.”

The book was massive, containing thousands of pages of images. A few, she noticed, were colored different with greater annotations underneath the images. She found two images like this, only a few pages apart and compared them. They both had the same coloring, different from the other pages and their annotations were paragraphs long rather than a single line. She looked back and forth between them. 

That’s when it struck her. 

There was a sphere, lined as if it was to indicate light. In the first it hung over the shoulder of the alien, slain and lifeless in the drawing. In the other it was as if the ball of light was dancing over what looked like the destruction of a city. She had seen this ball of light before in the DEO bunker after the attack on National City. 

It was Mxy. 

“‘Krypton destroyed itself and because of that a prophecy was born to ensure the survival of this galaxy. Tiresias has given two prophecies to salvage the effects of Krypton’s destruction on this galaxy.’” Herren translated for Kramson.

“Two?” Kara asked, distracted. 

Kramson pulled three relics from the wall and showed them to her though their glyphs were just as foreign to her as her own relics in her timeline. 

“‘When a prophecy goes unfilled, a new one is born out of the ashes and destruction. This prophecy failed and thus a new one passed down.’” Herren waited a moment on Kramson. “He would like to see your relics.”

“I don’t have them with me.”

Herren translated and this clearly upset Kramson. 

“What happens if I also fail?” Kara asked into the awkward silence. 

Herren translated again and Kramson responded by gesturing to her place in front of him. “‘You did not fail, chosen one, because you are here.’”   
“I meant in my timeline.”

The translation of Kara’s words by Herren was soft but Kramson’s response was not. He launched himself back from her, crossing his hands in a strange pattern in the air between them. His words were harsh again and he pointed out of the temple. Kara didn’t need to have someone translate what was clearly the universal language for “get out”.

“We have upset him. We must go,” said Herren worriedly. They backed out of the temple watching Kramson continue to gesture weird signs at them in the air.

****

Herren delivered them back to the pod station in silence. Before they had entered the car Herren had conversed with Lena and Lena did not translate it for Kara. At the station, Herren bowed and thanked them for their visit, apologizing profusely for how it ended. 

Only once her and Lena were alone in the ship back to Earth’s space station did Kara ask what Herren had said to her after they had left the temple. 

“Kramson said that what you had done was blasphemy and that the devil who brought you here would try to destroy us all.”

Kara angrily unbuckled her seatbelt now that they were in the air and started to pace. “Just great. Now what?”

“Oh you of little faith,” Lena laughed. 

Kara felt a surge of irritation. The one person who could tell them about Tiresias had just thrown them out and told them that what she’d done could cost them all. “I’m sorry but were you at the same meeting I was in just now? The one we got thrown out of?”

“I was,” Lena sassed. “And it confirmed everything I suspected.”

“Which is?”

“Let’s get back home and I’ll show you what I’ve been working on.” 

************************************************************************************

The dining room table could not be seen underneath the amount of paper that Lena had spread out. All of her notes and annotations were scattered in some organized chaos. 

“Herren had given me access to their database about prophecy events before we left,” Lena explained as she shifted some of the papers about and lifted the pizza box in search of a specific page. 

“The same information from the temple?”

“No, those are the primary sources. And while valuable and probably more complete, the Callistoians keep a database of these events and others that happen in our galaxy which is what I have.” She laid out a timeline. “From what I have been able to track is that the prophecies have been made to guide whoever receives them in the right direction when a natural fork occurs.”

“A fork?”

“Think of it like ‘if-then’ statements. If X happens then Y happens and so on. Now imagine that the success of this galaxy is contingent upon what are probably decillions of beings following their proper sequence. It would be a nightmare even for the most celestial beings. And then add to that storm that those beings have freedom of choice, that though they should do X so Y happens, they instead don’t or maybe they choose something different all together.”

Kara was trying to keep up. “That would be hard…” 

“Exactly. So Tiresias has to reorient the galaxy back onto its intended path and uses prophecies to do that.”

“But why not just say, ‘hey, I’m running things. Do this’?”

“That’s what I thought. But then remember what Kramson said: the rulers cannot give explicit truth. So instead they give—”

“Prophecies.”

Lena smiled, comforted by the fact that Kara didn’t think she was crazy.

Kara thought back to what else Kramson had said. “So if Krypton destroyed itself and it was not supposed to happen but they were meant for a great purpose then…”

“Tiresias made a prophecy to you, one of the last surviving Kryptonians, to get us back on track.”

“No, to someone else. Remember, mine was the second. ‘When a prophecy goes unfilled, a new one is born out of the ashes and destruction.’” It hit her like a tidal wave. “Winn said something about a similar signature!”

“What?”

“Back in my timeline Winn tried to trace the unique signature that the prophecy events gave off. He sent back a tracker through time and space and here on Earth he said that he had one ping from Metropolis a year before Kal and Lex became enemies. So Kal must have received a prophecy too!” She picked up her phone and texted Kal. He responded almost immediately, thankfully.

_ Kal: A Merry Christmas to you too, cousin. No, I don’t remember getting any messages. Why? What’s this about?” _

“He said he didn’t get anything.” She texted him an apology, and wished him a happy holiday. “Damn.” 

Lena hummed. “I still think we’re right. There was some prophecy before yours that went unfulfilled and that is why you received one.”

“How does Mxy fit into this?”

“Kramson called him a devil.”

“Yeah, but he didn’t know exactly who brought me to this timeline.” Kara threw herself into one of the chairs. She felt like they were so close. 

“I’ve been thinking about that. The language used by Kramson was foreign but I could pick up on some of it. It was similar to Callistian.” Lena bit into a piece of pizza that was now cold and chewed quickly. “Kramson didn’t seem upset by the jumping of the timeline but more the jumping of time, that you were promised to be taken back. We have the ability to send people to different timelines now but we can’t travel back to a different time.”

“Kelly said that I would need to be careful when I went back in time.”

Lena nodded in agreement. “We’re not meant for time travel. It gets too complicated.”

“Yeah, because what we’re doing is so easy,” Kara joked. She tossed a pizza crust piece at Lena and it got stuck in her hair. She then got serious. “What am I going to do? I agreed to help Mxy stop Tiresias. Why is Mxy doing this? I should have never trusted him. I don’t know quite what’s going on here but I know now I shouldn’t have trusted him. No matter what he says he essentially told me to pick Mon-El and that is what led to this disaster.”

“Hey,” Lena reached over and took her hand, “You did what you thought was best to save the world. From what I’ve read imps are skilled in tricking people.”

“How do I fix it? He has to take me back to choose you but he only will do that if I help him.”

“Then let’s trick him back.” Lena’s eyebrow raised, and it took everything for Kara not catapult herself over the table to kiss her. 

“How do we do that?”

“In my research I found that the most common way to get rid of them is to make them say their name backwards. It’s not permanent but it works.”

“If it’s common then he’ll be expecting it. And we need him gone forever, somewhere where he can’t escape, where time doesn’t pass so he can’t time jump, somewhere—” She gasped.

Lena smiled and grabbed another piece of pizza. “My thoughts exactly.”

****

It was just past midnight when the movie ended. They were sprawled out on the couch. They had a fire going though it was starting to die down. What remained of the two batches of cookies they had made were scattered on plates and napkins on the coffee table with two empty wine bottles and the last pizza box from their working dinner. Once they had agreed on what to do they had moved themselves to the living room and set out a plan for Kara when she returned to her timeline and then the past. It had been a long day but for the first time in this timeline Kara was sure of what to do. 

“Merry Christmas, Kara.” Lena bumped her shoulder lightly against hers. 

“Merry Christmas,” Kara laughed and returned the favor with a shoulder bump. “I’m sorry I’ve ruined your holiday with all of this work.” 

“Actually, we always spend Christmas Eve just us. We’re usually not working,” she said as she piled up their notes, powered off tablets, and collected pens and pencils, “but we spend it together.”

“What do we usually do? What do I get to look forward to?”

“Dinner, sometimes we play a game or we read together. Watch a Christmas movie like we did tonight, make love.” Her cheeks flushed at this and she pushed herself to the edge of the couch feign as if she wasn’t embarrassed. “Then we wake up and open presents. Alex and Kelly usually come over for brunch and lounge around until Eliza gets here for dinner. If J’onn is back in our solar system he’ll join us. James sometimes Facetimes in.”

Kara hummed. She licked her lips as she studied Lena’s profile. Her hand found its way to the small of her back. When Lena didn’t shy away, her hand traced up her spine and massaged one of her shoulders. Lena hummed at the relieving pressure. 

“That feels good,” Lena said. She gave a coy smile, her cheek pressed into her shoulder with her sideways glance.

As if a greater force was pushing them toward one another, they both leaned in at the same time. But Lena broke away suddenly. She rose from the couch, gathering their wine glasses, and disappeared into the kitchen. 

Kara huffed out the breath she had been holding. She grabbed their dirty plates and followed. In the kitchen, Lena was standing at the sink, staring out the window. 

“Lena?” Kara whispered. 

Lena’s head dropped. She took a deep breath. “I love you. So much that I sometimes think if I don’t kiss you or touch you I will lose my sanity.”

“I know the feeling.” She stepped up behind her. Her body molding tightly against Lena’s shorter frame. She dragged her nose along Lena’s neck and smiled when Lena’s breath came out with a slight moan. The tension between them had been building the last few days, crescendoing in the past hours as they worked for their future in another timeline. Lena turned slowly in her arms, not letting their bodies separate. She wound her arms over her shoulders and slid her fingers into her hair. 

Kara’s eyes devoured every inch of her. Here was the woman she had longed for, the woman she needed more than anything. She was sure that she had loved her instantly and if not, then it had been a quick dive into these feelings. She knew she’d never resurface from them. A flash of the gala once again appeared before her with Lena close and breathless, on the verge of a kiss that both wanted more than anything. She wasn’t going to miss the opportunity this time. 

Kara crushed her mouth to Lena’s and was happy to feel her respond just as strongly. The kiss seared every nerve in her body. She had never been hungrier or thirstier for someone, never felt so consumed herself by the desire of another for her own being. 

When Lena’s legs trembled she took it as an invitation to sweep her up into her arms. It was a slow progression to the bedroom because they could not keep their lips apart. At last, as Kara’s shins hit the mattress of their bed, she laid Lena down. But Lena wouldn’t let her go, pulling her down on top of her. It was only when their clothes were on the floor and their bodies flushed again, that Kara pulled back. She caressed Lena’s face and smiled when Lena nuzzled into her hand, placing a kiss at her wrist. 

“Rao, you’re so beautiful.”

Lena blushed and pressed upward for another kiss. This one lasted for hours as they let their mutual pleasure sweep over them, again and again, until neither could move. Even exhausted and sated, they could not separate. Their limbs tangled together, lips always against the other’s body.

“I’ve missed you,” Lena whispered into Kara’s neck.

Kara kissed the top of her head. Her mouth, no matter how exhausted, couldn’t help itself. “What do you mean?” 

“You’re Kara. You’re my Kara again.” She snuggled into Kara’s arms more and held her tightly. “I mean I know you’ve been Kara the whole time but now you’re the Kara who has accepted me and us.”

“Lena.” Kara smiled into the dark hair, inhaling her comforting scent. “I’ve always been yours. I’ll always be yours. No matter where in the universe or what timeline, I will always find you. I will always be yours.”

****

Lena’s soft but rhythmic breathing was calming in the darkness. The weight of her arm across her torso made her feel grounded and safe. Kara watched the skyline through their bedroom window. She could get used to this. Actually, she was already used to this. She rolled slightly and Lena responded similarly. Even asleep her body oriented itself to Kara’s. Kara placed her lips on Lena’s forehead and kissed it, trying to soothe Lena back to a restful sleep state. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, giving herself to sleep that should take her. Her eyelids twitched and her face scrunched.

It was bright. 

She opened her eyes and saw a ball of light shimmering near the bedroom doors. It hovered there for a second and then disappeared through the crack of the doors. 

“No,” she breathed out. 

She untangled herself from Lena, trying her best not to wake her. Quietly she crept out of the bedroom, pulling clothes on as she went. At the end of the hall, she saw the ball of light dart into the darkened living room. She quickly pursued it though it was faster than her. She came sliding around the fireplace, her socks slipping unsteadily on the wood floor. The ball of light was gone and only a figure remained, lounging back on the couch. 

“Nice digs. I like this life of yours better than the last.” Mxy studied the living room closely. 

She was surprised yet relieved that he was here. She glanced between him and their plans and notes stacked on the coffee table. “You came back.”

“I told you I would.” 

His attention was now on the coffee table. Kara held her breath and only exhaled it when he selected a magazine rather than their files. He picked it up and opened it to some random page like he couldn’t be bothered to have this conversation with her. 

“You can’t blame me,” Kara contested. “You left me in the DEO bunker and then I just woke up here!”

“You wanted to come here so I brought you here. What’s your problem?” He was getting defensive. With hostile eyes he peered over the magazine.

Kara swallowed and steadied herself. She had to play this level headed. “You’re right. But you could have explained it before you took me from the DEO. It was quite a shock waking up here. And painful.”

“I told you there would be a price to pay. Everyone thinks that you can just zoom in and out of space and time. But you can’t. Only certain beings, such as myself, are designed to withstand that much trauma to the body.”

“How did you know this was the right timeline?”

“Because your real timeline was the only one where you made a different choice. Every other timeline you chose her. Look at what you and the Luthor have done.” He flashed the magazine at her where a picture of her and Lena stood on a stage in front of a great audience. “Much more impactful than you and the Daxamite. It didn’t matter which one I took you to. I take it you do realize now you should have married her?”

“Why couldn’t you have just told me that the first time?” Kara asked, exasperated. “You could have saved us all this trouble.”

“I did not know. And I didn’t have time to figure it out. You remember that night when you showed me the prophecy? You felt  _ his _ presence too. I cannot risk getting in his way again. That’s why it took me years to come back - he was always lurking and I couldn’t make it back to you.”

How convenient, she thought. 

“Speaking of which, do you know how to stop him? I hear you made a little trip to space today. I hope it was for our cause.”

“I’m pretty sure I do.”

“Excellent!” He jumped from the couch. “What’s the plan?”

“You’ll have to wait. I won’t be able to do it in 2017. I need technology that doesn’t exist then. And only Lena can build it.”

“That’s fine. Five years is like a blink for me. But what is the plan?”

“I cannot tell you.”

He drew himself up. He was quick to get agitated. “Tell me or I don’t take you back.”

“I can’t,” Kara reiterated. “We did go to space today and we did find some answers but we upset the curator and he threw us out. I’m sure Tiresias will be watching me closely now. I have to keep this close to the chest. Surely you understand.”

Mxy studied her intently. His face then broke out into a wide smile. “Kramson is a drama queen. And a fool. But I suppose you’re right.” He clapped his hand. “So, does that mean you’re ready to go?”

Kara peered down the hallway to the master suite where Lena slept on, oblivious to Kara and Mxy’s presence. “You promise you’ll take me back and let me make the correct choice? I can choose her?”

“I have already promised you this. Will you keep up your end of the bargain?”

Kara bit her lip but Mxy could not see her face from his angle. “Yes.”

“Then it is time for us to go. I’ll see you soon, my Kryptonian.”

With a bow, he faded away in his ball of light and the apartment returned to its previous darken state. 

Kara took a deep breath and felt a familiar drowsiness. She knew once she fell asleep that she’d wake up in a different place and time. Fear suddenly shocked her system. What if she couldn’t get it all fixed? What if this was the last time she ever saw Lena?

She stumbled back to their bedroom, fighting the sleep that was threatening to take her at any moment. She collapsed on the bed, shaking it enough to wake Lena from her slumber. 

“Kara? Are you okay?” Lena’s voice dripped of sleep, her eyes not fully opening as she draped her arm back over her wife. 

“Yeah.” Kara pressed her lips to Lena’s forehead once more. “I love you, Lena.”

The last thing she remembered was the “I love you” returned by Lena before the darkness took her once again.


	13. Chapter 13

“Good morning, National City! The weather is in cahoots with the city planners it seems,” the radio DJ laughed at his phrasing, “nice fall chill today as the preparations for the Fall Festival begin. Now don’t forget, the festival opens tonight and I’ll be at the KMYZ booth handing out fall goodies.”

Kara’s hand fumbled with the alarm clock, pressing wrong buttons before locating the one that would silence the DJ’s voice that served as her alarm. She slumped back down into her pillows and blanket hoping she could convince her body that it could follow the quickly fading sleepiness. Her arm wrapped around something next to her and instinctively she kissed it. But instead of the warm, smooth skin her lips expected to find there was only cold cotton. Her eyes opened and she was staring at a pillow wrapped in her embrace. 

Something was wrong. 

She sat up and looked around her apartment. She knew this apartment. She had rented it after she had secured her job at CatCo and finally had enough money to get a place in a better section of National City and without a roommate. It was this apartment that she and Alex had fought about her becoming Supergirl. It was the apartment where their friends always came for game night. She had laughed and cried, made friends and lost friends, worked and played in this apartment. But something wasn’t right. 

She remembered but had not expected this apartment. Why?

She thought back. What did she do last night? Or yesterday? Why was she disoriented?

And why did she have  _ Carol of the Bells _ stuck in her head?

Her feet hit the cold hardwood as she sat on the edge of the bed. There was a nagging throb, like the beginning of a headache in the back of her brain. She massaged her neck and then her forehead trying to prevent it from coming to fruition. 

She rose from the bed. Her lumber to a kitchen she recognized but felt like a stranger in was uneasy. She found belongings that she recognized as her own, notes in her handwriting, and food choices she typically made. Upon opening she found that coffee pot was preloaded, something she did during her nightly wind down before bed. She pushed the power button and watched the first drips hit the inside of the pot. 

No matter what she did she could not place this reason behind this feeling of apprehensive deja vu. She felt like her own mind was trying to block something, repress it or let it slip away like a dream upon waking. She shook her head as if to rid some cobwebs of uncertainty away.

She reached for her favorite mug that had been set out the night before as part of the coffee prep routine from the night before. The coffee steam slithered up as she poured and the delicious smell unlodged something deep within her. The memories (or was it the future?) came flooding back. Lena lying beneath her in the dark with hooded eyes and a smoldering smile, going to space, and the new DEO. Then there were other memories, faded and discolored like old photographs. Mon-El walking through a front door, the tension of arguing and accepting sadness, and National City burning are balls of purple plasma rained down. Then she heard it. A nerve grating voice, with words of a prophecy.

The coffee mug hit the hard floor and shattered, coffee going in every direction. 

****

“Alex, open up!” Her pounding was starting to cause dents in the door. “Alex!”

“Easy! Jesus Christ, Kara!” Alex’s voice was muffled behind the door. 

She could hear Alex fumbling with the chain and the deadbolt. Right as the handle turned, she pushed her way in nearly smashing the door into her sister’s face. “Alex, what’s the year?!”

“You woke us up about the date?” Alex was standing confused in boxers and a tank top that was half pulled down as if she had only put it on to open the door. Her eyes were caked with sleep and her hair was sticking up in all directions. 

“I’m sorry. It’s just—”

“Really, little Danvers? It’s not even nine yet! On our day off!” 

The voice spooked Kara. In the bed of Alex’s studio apartment was Maggie, naked and trying to cover herself up. 

Kara’s mouth gaped. She closed it and then tried to start again. She took a step toward Maggie and then pointed to Alex. “But you...and you...Lena....”

“Kara? Are you okay?”

“What day is it?” Kara insisted again. 

“October…,” Alex checked her phone, “23rd”

“But what year?!”

“2017. Kara…” Alex glanced at Maggie, trying to lessen any possible suspicion when she dropped her voice to a whisper. “Are you okay? Did you come into contact with something? Is this about the prophecy and choosing Mon-El?”

Kara shook her head. “You’re sure?”

She had checked her own phone and her watches that had a date function before she had come here. She had googled it many times on different browsers to try to convince herself it was true. But she needed to hear it from someone, someone she trusted. And now she had and she still didn’t quite believe it. 

“I’m going to Lena. I’m telling her everything.” 

She turned and started out the door. Alex’s hand suddenly appeared at the small of her back, escorting her out of the apartment. 

With them in the hallway and the door cracked, Alex spoke louder. “We talked about this. It’s too dangerous. And I thought we decided that it is you and Mon-El?”

“But you’ll change your mind about Lena.” Kara remembered Alex sitting across from her in her own apartment’s kitchen telling her that they’d get it figured out. “And there is no way in hell I’m marrying Mon-El.”

“What?”

“You’ll change your mind. Something is going to happen and it’ll change your mind. You’ll help me get Lena integrated into the life of Supergirl. It’s all going to be okay!” She started laughing, relief flooding her as she accepted that she was back so she could make the right choice. 

Alex put her hand on Kara’s forehead and examined her eyes. “Are you sure you haven’t come into contact with anything? You’re acting weird.”

Kara removed Alex’s hand and shook it in excitement. “I love her and we’re going to save the world!”

She kissed her sister’s cheek and bounced away. 

“I gotta couple things I need to do but I’m telling Lena today! Tell J’onn I’m telling her. She’ll need DEO clearance and all that,” she said over her shoulder as she disappeared down the stairs. 

Alex was frozen to the spot in confusion. “But, Kara!” She got no reply. “Oh, Christ.”

She reentered the apartment, shutting the door with a soft click. Her head was spinning with all the possibilities of what could go wrong. A Luthor and a Super together. 

“What was that about?” Maggie asked as she emerged from the bathroom, awake and clothed to her displeasure. 

“Kara’s telling Lena.”

“About time those two got together. I’m tired of watching them awkwardly flirt with one another. Makes me sick,” she laughed. When Alex didn’t laugh with her she bit her lip. “Is this because Kara is Supergirl?”

“What...no! What are you talking about?!” Now Alex laughed but it was fake and she knew that Maggie knew immediately. When Maggie folded her arms and raised an eyebrow in an act of defiance, she stopped trying to cover it. “How long have you known?”

“A while.” There was a wry smile across her face. “It’s actually pretty obvious if you’ve spent a good chunk of time with either of you. Lucky for you, Lena seems to be the dumbest genius in the world.”

Alex ran her fingers through her hair and laughed at the ridiculousness of the morning so far. 

************************************************************************************

“Kara! I didn’t know that you were stopping in. I would have ordered us lunch.” Lena stood from her desk beaming, her arms outstretched to bring Kara in for a hug. 

Kara stopped only briefly to let the sight before her really sink in. Lena’s radiant smile, the warmth she exuded, the sheer goodness of the true person she was. Her heart swelled and she knew she’d do anything to secure their future. She heard Lena’s voice in her head. 

_ “You have to fix us.” _

Lena was oblivious to the awe that had frozen Kara in that moment. “I’ve missed you the last few–”

It was too much. She did not let Lena finish. She collected her into her arms and kissed her with everything she had. At first Lena was stiff but only out of surprise and then she quickly responded with vigor as her hands found their way into Kara’s hair. She moaned as one kiss turned into another and then another. 

When they broke apart, Kara sat Lena back down on solid ground with a sheepish grin, not realizing she had even lifted her up. Luckily Lena seemed too concerned with the actual kiss to realize that Kara had lifted her up so easily and so high. 

“Well, Ms. Danvers, I must say, if I had known that was what our first kiss was going to be like I would have kissed you a lot sooner.” She ran her thumb over Kara’s bottom lip trying to wipe away a smudge of lipstick. 

“I choose you,” Kara said as she pulled Lena in for a tight embrace. “I’ll never put you second ever again. I promise.”

Lena flushed and wrapped her arms around Kara in return. “I’m flattered by your choice although I’m not completely sure what you are trying to say.”

She pulled back a bit but kept Lena securely in her arms. “I have a lot I need to talk to you about.”

“Ms. Luthor?” Jess’s voice came over the intercom, startling them both. 

The two quickly let go of one another and each took an awkward step back.

“Yes, Jess?”

“You have a phone call. It’s...it’s  _ them _ .” Her voice was serious. “Would you rather me send it to Sam?”

“Oh, shit. No, no. Go ahead and put it through. And will you please clear the rest of my day? After this phone call I’m whisking Kara away for lunch and some relaxation if she can manage it.” She cupped Kara’s face in her hands, her eyes spilling all of the love she wanted to give her, to say to her in that moment but couldn’t because of their location. 

“Of course, Ms. Luthor.” 

“Let me deal with this and then I’m all yours.” Lena looked up at Kara as she waited for the call to be put through. 

“Lena wait...” Kara’s head was wracked with sharp pain, something telling her that this was all important. She tried to pull the memory back from last time. The phone started to ring and she grabbed Lena’s wrist before she could pick it up. “Wait. They are going to offer you a better deal. Like a really good deal and I need you to not agree to anything until we talk.”

Lena gave an incredulous laugh and looked at the ringing phone. “How do you know that?”

“Just trust me. Please? Don’t give them a decision just yet.”

Lena didn’t respond. Instead she stared her down, studying as she tried to find the angle to this confusion. She answered the phone never letting her eyes leave Kara. Confusion was still hanging in her brow as she greeted the person on the other line. “Hello, Phillip.”

The two exchanged pleasantries but the conversation quickly turned to business. Kara sat in her usual chair in front of Lena’s desk. She used her super-hearing to listen to Phillip’s new proposition. As he reported the new figures to Lena, she picked up on Lena’s heart starting to race. The same from the last time. 

“Well,” Lena’s eyes widened in shock at this proposal, “that is certainly a major change from the last time we talked.” She looked up into Kara’s face and could see a great deal of anxiety for some reason.

Like last time, Kara used her super hearing to focus on the call in an attempt this time to verify that she was right. She had to know that these memories and this future were real.

“...we would, of course, prefer for you to be here in Metropolis with us. I only trust you and Sam with my lab and technicians.”

“I’m very flattered that you would trust us with your life’s work.”

“You’re the best, Lena. Everyone knows it. Your brother can’t hold a candle to you.”

“You are always one for compliments, Phillip.”

“I mean it. I wouldn’t even consider this if it was still LuthorCorp and I sure as hell wouldn’t be doing this with Lex.”

Another twitch of pain told Kara that something else was about to happen and then she heard the footsteps of Jess with a stack of files. Jess stood next to the couch, not approaching Lena’s desk without permission. Never missing anything, she caught a laugh back and then motioned to her lips as if Kara had something on her face. Kara wiped her mouth and felt a trace of Lena’s lipstick from their kissing earlier. Jess winked and smiled at her, pleased that they finally seemed to be moving in the direction of their feelings. She only wanted them both to be happy. 

“Sam and I have been looking forward to collaborating with you on this project,” Lena continued. She signaled to Jess that she would sign the files, and then returned them back to Jess’s outstretched hands. Jess then left with another knowing smile for Kara. 

After some minor discussion of a few of the details, Lena promised to talk more with Sam and get back to Phillip about the potential acquisition just as she had last time Kara witnessed this scene. But it ended differently. This time instead of facing away from Kara and going into deep thought, her eyes bore into Kara’s again seeking answers. 

Kara cleared her throat. “Lena?”

“How did you know? I wasn’t expecting this at all. They doubled their offer and I’m a little flabbergasted to be honest. L-Corp is in desperate need for liquid funds and the original deal was going to be of big help. Now this...this could help me get multiple projects off the ground.”

Kara swallowed.

“So how did you know? Did you get some tip at CatCo or something?”

“No, I didn’t get a tip.” She came around Lena’s desk and dropped to her knees, taking Lena’s hands and kissing both of them. “I have a lot to tell you and I promise I’ll tell you as much as I can.”

She remembered Kelly’s warning of divulging too much information and confusing and potentially harming the people of this timeline. She would tread carefully. No ounce of her ever wanted to hurt Lena ever again. 

“I don’t know much more news I can take today,” Lena laughed. She bent forward and captured Kara’s lips in another quick kiss. “First you kiss me and tell me you’re choosing me, and then I get the call that could change the face of my company and life.”

Kara smiled. “I love you.” She heard Lena’s breath catch and rushed to clarify. “And I know that’s sudden. We’ve not even had our first date yet. But I need you to know that I love you and I trust you. With my heart, with my life, and with my secret.”

She let go of Lena’s hand and brought her own fingers to her blouse. Her eyes never left Lena’s even when Lena’s widened in panic at Kara trying to undress in front of her. Her fingers trembled and fumbled over the buttons as her mind raced with questions. What if Lena ran? What if this was too much right now? But did they have time to waste when their future and Earth was at risk?

With her shirt half unbuttoned, she took a deep breath. 

“Kara?” Lena’s voice quivered in uncertainty. “What are you…”

The words trailed off as Kara pulled the two sides of her shirt apart, a red ‘S’ prominent there on her chest that heaved in anticipation of whatever reaction Lena would have. And for what seemed like eternity there was no reaction. 

Lena at last reached her hand forward, hestating only briefly. Her fingers lightly traced the ‘S’ and the breath that she had been holding came out in a rush. Then, to Kara’s surprise and delight, she smiled. “I always told you Kara Danvers was my hero.”

************************************************************************************

Five years later

************************************************************************************

“If I continue making these cookies you have to promise not to eat them all today,” Lena called out from the kitchen. 

“But I can eat like half, right?” Kara measured out a length of ribbon and tested it across the wrapped gift in front of her on the coffee table. 

“Only if you get in here and help me start decorating them.”

“Hmm. I don’t know...That doesn’t sound like a good deal for me.”

“Fine. I’ll let you eat half if you help me decorate them. And I’ll throw in a kiss.”

Kara smiled. She loved their playfulness. They weren’t perfect. Over the last five years they had their disagreements, one intense argument that led to Kara being banned to the guest room for a few days, and some growing pains as a result of trying to merge the secret life of Supergirl and the very public life of L-Corp’s CEO. But no matter what happened at the end of the day they were a strong team. They had accomplished wonders, even more than what Kara had observed in her timeline jump. Just the knowledge of knowing they could was the most powerful motivator and confidence booster for her especially as she transferred from CatCo to L-Corp. They were happy and in love. And Kara worked every day as if it could be their last because she knew better than anyone that it could be. 

“I guess that sounds like a better deal. Let me finish this present and I’ll be there. Did you remember to buy the snowflake sprinkles I like?” She got no answer. “Lena?”

She climbed off the floor and slipped the finish present under the tree on her way to the kitchen. “Lena? Are you—”

She found Lena still as though she had been frozen in place. The cookie sheet in her hand was tilted down and the cookies that had been on it now in a pile on the floor. She was staring into the dining room where the other hundreds of cookies she had already made were stacked on cooling racks ready to be decorated. But it wasn’t the cookies that held her attention. The petite being sitting criss cross in mid-air over the dining room table who was shoveling cookies into its mouth was where her attention was. 

“Kara! Get in here and help your wife with all of this!” Mxy exclaimed as he picked up a cookie and dipped it into the mixing bowl of frosting.

“You’re...you’re back,” Kara stuttered. 

“Of course I’m back. You didn’t think I’d just let you have your way without collecting my fee now did you?” He dramatically brought up his hand to his mouth as if he had revealed a great secret. “Oop! Does she know?”

“Yes, I know.” Lena had finally found her voice. 

“Great! Now, let’s get to business. Do you have what is owed to me?” He dipped another cookie and somehow was able to make the gesture look menacing. 

Kara took the pan from Lena, the heat not doing anything to her Kryptonian hands, and pulled Lena back away from Mxy. “I do. But it’s not here.”

“Then let’s go on a field trip, shall we? Mind if I take some of these?”

****

The winter air was crisp as they walked from the penthouse to L-Corp. Mxy complimented them on their accomplishments. They weren’t sincere. He knew it and they knew it, but to any outsider who observed them it would look like three friends out on a nice walk on Christmas Eve. 

L-Corp was deserted. Lena had mandated it because she wanted her employees to prioritize their outside lives especially around the holidays. When the memo came down, Kara had gone to Lena’s office and made it a point to remind Lena that she too was an employee of L-Corp so the memo applied to her as well. 

The only staff that remained was the security and Lena had made sure the building manager had a schedule that allowed them all to rotate in and out with their families and holiday buffets were catered in for every meal for them. When they walked into the doors, they were met by surprised but grateful faces. They assured the security staff they were there for only a short visit and not to worry. Mxy nearly broke their cover when a guard asked him to sign in but Kara was able to rein him in and deflect the sign-in. 

“I hope you two aren’t trying to trick me. That writing or saying my name backwards bit won’t work on me.”

“We’re not trying anything,” Kara assured him. 

They took the elevators down to Lena’s private lab. This is where she and Kara had developed some of their greatest projects together and where some of L-Corp’s best ideas blossomed before being assigned to other teams in the company. And this is where they had worked the last few years ensuring their future. 

The lab was stark white, just like Lena’s office. All sides of the room save for one were lined with computers and specialized electronic and scientific equipment, some of which Lena had invented herself. The far side of the room was a glass wall that looked out into a hanger where alien vehicles of all sorts were parked around the room. 

“I see no weapon,” Mxy stated, unimpressed by the scientific furnishings he observed that would have made any scientist drool with jealousy.

“We have it.” 

Mxy got suddenly vicious. “Let me make one thing clear. Don’t do anything stupid,” Mxy warned. “I’ll take you back in this timeline and assure that neither of you survive.”

“I’m not taking you to Tiresias until I get some answers.”

“You’re not taking me to Tiresias no matter what. You have no idea where he is. Don’t try to bluff me.” He smiled at their shocked looks. “Oh yes, I know. You have no clue how to find him.”

He took a step toward them and Kara recoiled at the sudden snarl upon his face. “We…”

“ _ I _ am the only person in this entire shit hole of a galaxy that knows how to find him,” he gritted out in anger, spit clinging to his curled lip. He pulled himself back and smoothed down his suit. “I knew you’d fail in that aspect so no need to continue to play that game. But you didn’t fail me completely. I knew together you’d achieve great things. So, hand whatever weapon you’ve built over and we will call our deal complete.” 

“No, I deserve some answers.” Kara said. “There are too many questions and I want to know why you’ve really done all of this and what you’re going to do with our work.”

“Why? You want to know why?” He laughed at her. And then he flew into a rage. “Because he ignored me!”

“Who?”

“Tiresias!”

Kara waited but she stepped in front of Lena, trying to keep her blocked in case Mxy attacked. 

“Do you know what it’s like being immortal? Do you know what it’s like to live on year after year, millenia after millenia with no true purpose?”

Kara shook her head.

“Well I do!” he screamed. “He wouldn’t help me! I tried to show him my worth. For the first two thousand years of my life I merely existed, watching the beings of this galaxy live out full lives, fulfill their purposes, and work for the prosperity of this galaxy. So many were given prophecies and became great because of them.”

He sat on the edge of a workstation, trying to collect himself despite his anger. “I then spent lifetimes tracking Tiresias down. He told me that I was not yet worthy of a prophecy. It hurt but I knew I could show him that I could be trusted, that I could be great just like the others. I then spent the next two thousand years doing only good. I helped those you received prophecies on interpreting them. I brought them resources. And then I had to stand on the sidelines as they achieved their purpose and to glory and special treatment.”

“Helping wasn’t enough for you, was it?” Kara asked. It came out more cruel than she intended but he didn’t seem to pick up on it. He was so lost in his own past. 

“No. Would it be for you? I went to Tiresias and he denied me a prophecy again. He told me that my actions were selfish and that I was unworthy. So I changed my tactics. I started leading people away from fulfilling their prophecies. So easy to trick and deceive, and it’s rather fun too. Tiresias was going mad. He began churning out more prophecies to right this galaxy. I knew one day he would catch up with my foolery so I needed a new plan. A plan to destroy him.

“But I needed a champion, a partner to help me. I may have great powers but I do not possess the ability to create technology or weapons.”

“Me,” Kara concluded. “That’s why you made the deal with me.”

Mxy scoffed. “No, not you. Lex Luthor.”

“What?” Kara and Lena said at the same time.

Mxy’s laugh this time was long and cruel. “I knew if your brother fulfilled his prophecy that Tiresias would have the ability to stop me for good. I threw all my energy into stopping him. Not that it was hard. He was even more desperate to prove himself that you are,” he hissed at Lena. 

“Lex got the prophecy, not Superman?”

“It referred to your cousin but yes, Lex was the receiver. Tiresias knew if he could get them teamed up they’d achieve great things and I would be useless to stop anything. A Luthor and a Super is a powerful combination.”

“‘A pairing of second chances.’” Kara recited from her own prophecy. 

“Lex created a pro-alien group which he named Cadmus, after the first hero of Ancient Greece. You humans do love glorifying that time period of your history. With the help of Superman that group would have achieved much of what you have here, though I will say it all looks better with your womanly touches.” He winked, trying to flatter them again.

“You’re wrong. Superman said he had never heard of Cadmus.”

“Hmm. Am I? Superman never heard of it because I stopped him from knowing!” Mxy shouted again. He was wavering between calm conversation and crazed yelling. “I told Lex that Superman would be his downfall, that together they would achieve great things but that Superman would get the most credit and would be the true hero. So he changed Cadmus to prevent aliens from succeeding on Earth.”

“It’s your fault,” Lena said incredulously. “It’s your fault he fought Superman.”

Mxy waved her off. “Eh, when you know someone’s core traits, mix in their mental instability, and give them a different path it’s quite easy to trick them. For the record I didn’t realize he’d go as mad as he did. I needed him to help me with Tiresias but he really went off the deep end.” Mxy took his hand and waved it around like a parent trying to convince a toddler it was an airplane there to deliver food to their mouth. He whistled and then acted like it crashed. “Your brother is as crazy as they come.”

Lena stepped forward as if to punch Mxy but Kara held her back. “Because of you!”

Laughter filled the hanger again. “What are you going to do, Luthor? You can’t hurt me. Neither of you can.”

“So that’s why you came to me?”

“I didn’t realize there was another Kryptonian alive at the time. I thought I had at least thwarted Tiresias. I may have lost my champion but I stopped him until I could find another. But then you.” He pointed a shaky finger in Kara’s face. “You, with your bright smile and happy-go-lucky attitude came out of nowhere. And before I knew it you,” this time he pointed at Lena, “move to the same city. I knew it would only be a matter of time before Tiresias tried to put you two together. And I was right! But this time he gave the prophecy to you, Kara. Not Lena. Curious decision that I still don’t understand. It didn’t matter. You were easier to trick than Lex.”

“So what now?”

He cracked his knuckles and walked back to the workstation he had been sitting on. “You give me the weapon and I will leave you be. So give it here or face the consequences.” 

Kara turned and nodded to Lena. They stared at one another for a moment, Kara in resignation and Lena in defiance. 

“Kara, we can’t do this. It’s too powerful of a weapon.”

“We have to. It’s the only way.”

“I’d listen to your wife, Luthor. Don’t be stupid like your brother.”

Lena glared at Mxy as she triggered a floor vault not too far from where they were standing. It was so hidden, so perfectly integrated into the lab floor that if anyone but Lena had tried to locate it they would fail. She reluctantly entered a passcode, gave a retinal scan, and passed a voice activation check into the panel that had risen from the floor safe. Two high pitched beeps rang out after Lena had passed the security protocols and the doors opened. A pedestal rose slowly from the depths of the lab with a single viral of a maroon liquid. 

“What is it?” Mxy asked in confusion. He had been expecting something more menacing.

“A virus,” Lena scoffed. She removed the vial and handed it out to him. “A Kryptonian virus, to be specific. Kara’s father had designed it to kill all who were not Kryptonians. I have modified it to Tiresias.”

“And just how did you manage that?” He didn’t let her respond, opting for his mad laughter again. “Ah, Kramson. I take it your visit to the temple in this timeline was more productive than the last, Kara? Did you give him your relics for the record?”

Kara sheepishly looked at her feet. “Yes, we made sure not to mention the time traveling this time. And yes I turned over my relics.”

“What did he give you in return?”

Mxy had told her the first time he had visited that fulfilling a prophecy would bring an award. When they had given Kramson the relics he interpreted the strange glyphs. With whatever instructions were there, he disappeared deep into the temple emerging nearly half an hour later with a device. To Lena’s surprise the device was just the thing L-Corp needed for their clean water project to save their oceans and provide drinkable water for all of Earth’s inhabitants no matter where they were. 

“Sounds boring.” He took the vial from Lena’s hand and continued to badger Kara. “How does it feel? You’ve been the protector of everyone and now you’ve orchestrated the murder of another. Lena, clearly, isn’t too bothered but killing is natural for her bloodline.”

Kara stepped in front of Lena again before she could take another step toward Mxy. She nodded at the vial in his hand. “Just like that? You tell us you’ve spent years ruining prophecies and you’re going to let us keep ours fulfilled?”

“Think of it as payment for the weapon.” He held it up in the light as if he could analyze its contents with just his eyes. “How do I use it?”

Lena typed out a few more commands on the vault’s panel and another pedestal rose up with an odd looking gun on it. She picked it up and held it out to him. “The virus can only be transmitted as an aerosol. Load the vial into the chamber and then fire it in the vicinity of Tiresias.”

“And how do I know that it won’t have any effect on me? That I won’t fire this at Tiresias and you’ve rigged it to kill me?”

“I guess you’ll just have to trust us,” Lena mocked him back. 

Mxy paced the lab, deep in thought. Then he stopped and turned with a devilish grin. “No, I have a better idea. You make me a way to fire it from afar or I’ll tear you two apart like that!” He snapped his finger.

“No! We did what you asked!” This time it was Lena grabbing Kara to stop her. 

“Kara, stop. He’s not worth it.” This time it was Lena grabbing Kara to stop her. “What did you have in mind?”

“Lena! No!”

Lena cupped Kara’s face. “You’ve done so much to make sure we are together and that Earth is safe. Let me handle this.”

“Aren’t you two just the sweetest.”

“What did you have in mind?” Lena asked hotly. 

“Well, what’s that over there?” Mxy pointed across the lab out the glass wall to the hanger where there was Kara’s old pod, partly dismantled. 

“My pod?”

Mxy pushed his way out to the hanger and evaluated it. “Ah, yes. I thought I recognized the technology. That will do. I’m familiar with Kryptonian technology.”

“It’s not outfitted for a weapon,” Kara insisted.

“But it could be. Right, Lena?” Mxy rubbed his has along the sleek metal of the ship. 

“Yes. Kryptonian pods were equipped to ensure that it’s occupant could survive but also to be used to deploy resource packages to what we assume were their soldiers during battle. I can alter this system to drop the virus.” Lena turned to Kara again. “I have to do it, Kara. For us. For the world.” 

Kara didn’t like it but Lena was right. She nodded and then slumped onto a lab stool in defeat. 

Surprisingly, it took Lena very little time to put the pod back together and to equip it with what Mxy was asking. When she had finished, she brushed off her pants and stood, defeated herself.

“So, it’s done?” Mxy had spent the time examining the other vehicles in the hanger and taunting Kara about being a Super. 

Lena swallowed and nodded. 

“Great!”

He ran forward and patted the pod like it was a horse. “And the virus? It’ll work this way?”

“Yes. You’ll enter your coordinates into the dash. Then once you’re near Tiresias you hit this button.” Lena pointed a glowing button out. “You won’t even have to land or stop the pod.”

“How close do I have to get?”

Lena held her hand out for the vial. “Give it here.”

Though hesitant, Mxy handed the vial of dark liquid over. Lena took it and emptied its content into a bigger vial and placed it into a contraption on a workbench. She sat down at one of the workstations next to it. She typed away on a computer and the machinery around her came to life, whizzing and whirling. The new vial that held the virus disappeared into one of the machines which started to hum.

A beep rang out and the machines went silent. 

Lena extracted the vial and transferred the contents back into a smaller one. “I’ve added a special isotope so that the aerosol will disperse over a greater area and maintain its effectiveness. You’ll need to be within a mile of Tiresias.”

“Good girl, Lena. You’ve done very well.” Mxy smiled brightly at her. “Now load it up so I can be on my way.”

Lena hesitated, biting her lip as she debated continuing with this plan.

“Lena, don’t go getting any ideas now,” Mxy warned. “Put it in the pod. And I promise I’ll leave you both and Earth alone.”

Lena didn’t need to be told twice. She ushered him to the pod and placed the vial into the internal system she had modified. “Go. And never come back.”

Kara had followed them over. Once Lena had the vial in place, she pulled her back and once again stepped in front of her in case of an attack.

Mxy laughed at both of them. He bowed low before climbing into the pod. As he took his seat, the pod’s glass canopy slid shut with a hiss. The pod powered on and it hovered there over the launch pad. The ceiling split in two, opening wide enough for the pod to launch out of the hanger. He typed in coordinates on the dash and turned to them, giving a victorious grin. 

“Your destination has been overridden.”

He whipped back to the dash and typed in the coordinates again. 

“Your destination has been overridden.” 

“What are you doing?!” He shouted through the glass at them. “You think this is a game?”

“No,” Kara smiled. Her worried demeanor and sulkiness disappeared. She dropped the act of concern. “You’re the only one who thinks people’s lives are games.”

Mxy tried to phase his way out of the pod but instead stayed in his seat. He tried again, and twice more, exerting a great deal of effort. He started pushing buttons on the dash in an attempt to open the pod but the only thing he managed to do was trigger warnings that his inputations could not be completed by the guidance system within the pod. 

His face was now flushed with anger. “Let me out now or you’ll pay! One snap and I’ll crack your world in half!”

Lena laughed. Her demeanor had changed too. She was the confident CEO, fully in control of the situation. “Try it.”

He snapped his finger. But nothing happened. He snapped again to no effect. 

“There is no use,” Lena informed him. “I’ve developed a force shield that prevents you from using any of your powers within the pod.”

“So you’re going to leave me in this pod like I’m some sort of zoo animal for you to spectate?!”

“No.” Kara stepped in. “You won’t stay here. You are going some place where you’ll never be able to escape and bring harm to anyone else ever again.”

His brow crinkled in confusion at first and then his face exploded in shock. “You can’t!”   


Kara stepped to the outside panel of the pod and entered a code. 

“Destination: The Phantom Zone.” the guidance system reported.

“No!” he screamed once more. 

The pod tilted its nose upward toward the opening in the hanger. Steam billowed out behind it and before Mxy could utter anything else in protest, the pod shot out of the hanger, disappearing into the sky.

The hanger ceiling closed itself back up and the room went silent. 

“It’s over. It’s all over,” Lena said exasperatedly.

Kara took Lena into her arms. They had done it. Five years of precious memories but with this day looming over them. But it was over. 

“Let’s go home. I want a mountain of Christmas cookies and you naked in our bed.”

Lena hummed. She looped her arm in Kara’s and led her back to the lab. “That sounds nice. We still need to finish wrapping presents for the morning though. You know Alex and Kelly will be over first thing.” 

“You just saved the world and maybe even the universe. I don’t think stuffing presents into gift bags will undo all of our work.”

“We. We just saved the world. And you know Alex will be upset if there are not heaps of wrapping paper all over the place.”

Kara laughed freely for the first time in a long time knowing Lena was right and knowing that for the time being their only worries would be getting their family and friends in their dining room for Christmas dinner. 


End file.
